Hi folks. Here's what the week brought at Necessary Fiction:

Megan Peck Shub returned to review The Afterlife of a Threadbare Jester by Khanh Ha (Red Hen Press).

This week's featured story was "Unkempt" by Cayla Koduah, selected by guest editor DeMisty Bellinger. This is DeMisty's final selection, and we're grateful for several weeks of well chosen reading. 

And in research notes, Terri Lewis wrote about When They Came Home, winner of the 2025 Novella Prize from Miami University Press, and coincidentally selected by contributor Amina Gautier.

Elsewhere, Leah Browning ("Ventilation," 2021) has a new story collection titled Souvenirs From Another Life available from Quiet Ocean Studio & Press.

Contributor Sara Lippmann recently published her novel Hidden River with Tortoise Books.

And Mice 1961 by contributor Stacey Levine, a finalist for the 2025 Pulitzer Prize, has been republished in a new edition by Ecco Press.

Thanks for reading,

Steve Himmer