False Spring
by Laura Freudig
The woman’s hair should have registered as a sort of warning. It was as red as a monarch butterfly, as red as berries. She stood in the doorway of the office, shaking an umbrella on the checkerboard tiles before propping it in an empty chair. She wore a belted black raincoat and high heels and carried a patent leather purse large enough to conceal an infant.
Much of Aaron Burch’s writing explores the myriad ways our past affects our present. Now, over two decades after founding the indie lit journal Hobart, and after publishing a novel, a novella, an essay collection, a short story collection, a craft anthology (and numerous short stories and essays, plus founding two additional literary journals), Burch is back with Tacoma, an autofiction novella that takes themes of nostalgia and the past to a wild new level.
In our morning reading: an interview with Liz Pelly, thoughts on a Denis Johnson biography, and more.
In our afternoon reading: thoughts on Mary Lattimore and Julianna Barwick’s collaboration, a new bestseller list, and more.
It’s the classic writer’s dream: publish a book, win an award, write the screenplay, and then walk the red carpet at the film version’s premiere. During 2025, Ben Shattuck’s creative life appeared to reflect that dream exactly: his first work of fiction, The History of Sound, won the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature prize and the film version — for which Shattuck wrote the screenplay — debuted at Cannes.
In our morning reading: Sara Levine on writing, the ins and outs of reading series, and more.
Aping The Ark
by Aug Stone
Just as the rumor persists that Noah’s actual name was Yoah and therefore an anagram of ‘Ahoy’, so do reports of other ark-itects attempting similar salvation at the time of The Great Flood. Including Noah’s childhood friend Antaeus who idolized him, imitating the righteous man in nearly all that he did. Truth be told, Noah was often annoyed by the misguided mimicry, as well as baffled by Antaeus’ bizarre choices for just about everything, such as the already urine-colored loincloth he gave Methuselah for his 500th birthday, but when the world’s ending and your buddy’s built a boat, well, you can rise above petty squabbles.
In our weekend reading: an interview with Sarah Moss, great science fiction novels, and more.