Of all the quests and callings one could pursue, why fiction? It’s the kind of question we could put to anyone. Why turn to sheep, shepherds? Why the law, lawyers? But to ask a storyteller to tell a story about telling stories — that gets tricky. The philosopher/literary critic Kenneth Burke has a phrase I…

When I was a child, some of my teachers thought I must have been mentally deficient because I looked so weirdly underdeveloped compared to the other kids. Funny thing is other teachers (the only ones Sylvia would listen to) thought I must have been gifted — maybe even a genius — for exactly the same…

Ruth, of course, was right. We did find what we were looking for. “The Lao Babies weren’t my work, friends. They were the work of God. God wished to create a superior form of humanity to show us the way. He has done that, for here is proof.” They were standing the Sheep’s Meadow of…

He couldn’t believe it, any of it. At first he couldn’t believe his luck. When the report came back that two Lao women had thwarted an attempted attack at Central Park West, he immediately snuck away to find them. He did find them — and her. There she was, right before him once more. It…

Three men were coming at me: Jimmy, Harrigan, and Baxter. The first two came on foot, faster than I would have thought possible, Baxter on a motorcycle — far faster than that. In a flash Baxter was gone, Jimmy had fallen, Harrigan was shouting something and falling as well. And then Jimmy was gone. He…

It had started almost two decades ago. He was told only that information about his birth parents existed which he could either see or ignore as he chose. Of course he chose to see it, though for a good hour or so he actually debated ignoring it. The only reason he caved in the end…

“When the virus hit the city, it was easy to find each other. There weren’t very many people left standing, after all, and a disproportionate number of them looked like us. Until then we had no idea how many of us there were in New York. Once we found each other — there are eight…

“How do we get back over the border?” Jimmy asked. There were four of us now in Harrigan’s car, and we were feeling anxious and hemmed in despite the roomy interior. “It might not be as difficult as all that,” said Ruth. “They don’t want anyone to leave the U.S. given the quarantine, but they…

It struck her as comical how easily people were willing to assign her the role of office manager. It wasn’t as though female scientists were a rarity — nearly a third of those working in the lab were women, after all. But Gerald Lindstrom looked the part of head scientist. He also had the ambition…

Life moves too fast. That’s what Americans always used to say. They lamented the way their children grew up before their eyes without their being able to spend enough time with them from moment to moment. They decried the fact that the finite number of hours in a given day just wasn’t enough to fit…

“Why are you here?” “You.” “Why me?” “Because you’re you.” “Nonanswers.” “Only ones I’ve got.” We were alone, naked, in the dark. Jimmy was committing my body to memory with his eyes and hands, not wanting to miss any part of me, as though I might disappear. Ironic, all things considered, but that’s how a…

I had braced myself for a sudden jump to warp speed, but Harrigan surprised all of us by slowing down — and opening his window. The motorcyclist now had the perfect opportunity to get his grenade to its target. But that didn’t happen, because in the next instant Harrigan had pulled a handgun from beneath…