Hand On The Shoulder, a short story by Ian McEwan. My name is Serena Frome (rhymes with "plume"), and forty years ago, in my final year at Cambridge, I was recruited by the British security service.
posted by shivohum on Apr 23, 2012 - 17 comments

The House Behind A Weeping Cherry by Ha Jin
posted by vronsky on Dec 8, 2009 - 12 comments

All That: "new" fiction from David Foster Wallace.
posted by Lutoslawski on Dec 7, 2009 - 56 comments

The Invasion From Outer Space: Steven Millhauser gives The New Yorker a short, unsettling sci-fi story.
posted by The Whelk on Feb 10, 2009 - 111 comments

New Yorker fiction 2008. Annotated list of short fiction from the past year. "As perhaps the most high-profile venue for short fiction in the world, taking stock of the New Yorker's year in fiction is a worthwhile exercise for writers and readers alike."
posted by stbalbach on Jan 5, 2009 - 24 comments

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is (a) Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, (b) facing a five-count indictment from the special prosecutor in the CIA leak case, (c) the author of The Apprentice, a book that is, in the words of The New Yorker's Lauren Collins, "Libby's 1996 entry in the long and distinguished annals of the right-wing dirty novel," or (d) all of the above. Via Making Light.
posted by mcwetboy on Nov 1, 2005 - 37 comments

Where I'm Likely To Find It is a new short story by Japanese author Haruki Murakami (previously discussed here and here). The story is similar in feel to his latest novel, Kafka on the Shore which was released in English this year.
posted by grapefruitmoon on May 3, 2005 - 11 comments

The Shore, a short-story by Richard Ford.
posted by semmi on Aug 6, 2004 - 4 comments

The Brief History of the Dead (printable) imagines the afterlife as a thriving city, where the poor choices of the living affect everyone, including the dead. A New Yorker short story by Kevin Brockmeier.
posted by waxpancake on Sep 6, 2003 - 7 comments

Back in the time of which I am speaking, due to our Coordinators had mandated us, we had all seen that educational video of "It's Yours to Do With What You Like!" in which teens like ourselfs speak on the healthy benefits of getting off by oneself and doing what one feels like in terms of self-touching, which what we learned from that video was, there is nothing wrong with self-touching, because love is a mystery but the mechanics of love need not be, so go off alone, see what is up, with you and your relation to your own gonads, and the main thing is, just have fun, feeling no shame!"
posted by semmi on Jan 22, 2003 - 21 comments

A good New Yorker piece on George Pelecanos, who is my favorite crime author not just for his skills, but because he sets his novels in D.C.
posted by GriffX on Apr 2, 2002 - 6 comments

Finally! The New Yorker publishes a short story that's actually worth reading. Tim O'Brien riffs on weight loss and a certain reclusive genius--highly entertaining stuff just right for a sluggish Saturday afternoon. For extra credit: why is so much literary fiction so mind-numbingly dull these days?
posted by muckster on Sep 8, 2001 - 12 comments