
Recommended Reading
Recommended Reading is your ultimate source for the best in contemporary fiction, including short stories and novel excerpts from today’s most dynamic voices.
Visit Recommended Reading
The Collective Tragedy of Maternal Isolation
"The Swing" by Marianne Jay Erhardt, recommended by Alyssa Songsiridej for Electric Literature

An Archivist for the End of the World
An excerpt from LANDSCAPES by Christine Lai, recommended by Ayşegül Savaş

The Real Impact of Imaginary Friends
"Such Common Life, Part 1: Protein" from WEDNESDAY'S CHILD by Yiyun Li, recommended by Elizabeth McCracken

The Commuter
Poetry, flash, graphic, or experimental narrative arriving every Wednesday morning.
Visit The Commuter
ISSUE No. 290
How to Dispose of a Toxic Father-in-Law
Sep 20 - David Hartley
Take a Bow, Gas Station Drag Queen
Two poems from PIG by Sam Sax

The Elegant Balance of a True Friendship
"Hyperboles," a short story by Sarp Sozdinler

I Am a Star in a Galaxy of Grandmothers
A poetry debut by high school student Mackenzie Duan

POPULAR in RECOMMENDED READING & THE COMMUTER
Lit Mags
My Mom Doesn’t Recognize Me But Neither Do I
Oct 12 - Wendy Wimmer
Lit Mags
A Swim Across the Open Waters of Mid-Life
Sep 18 - Vauhini Vara
Lit Mags
Black-Eyed Women
Feb 1 - Viet Thanh Nguyen
Lit Mags
The School
Dec 31 - Donald Barthelme
More Issues
Even the Smartest Phone Can’t Find Water in a Desert
"Find Water Near Me," a short story by Jessie Ren Marshall

Telepathy Is the Sixth Stage of Grief
"Exercises in Thinking" by Jane Pek, recommended by Wynter K Miller for Electric Literature

Tax Incentives for the Brokenhearted
Three poems by Edgar Kunz

Teaching My Son to Swim While I Drown
"Madwomen" from EVERY DROP IS A MAN'S NIGHTMARE by Megan Kamalei Kakimoto, recommended by Molly Antopol

Sinéad O’Connor Was Right All Along
An elegy by Erika Meitner

A Wax Man Lit a Fire in My Heart
"Dialogue with a Somnambulist" by Chloe Aridjis, recommended by Francisco Goldman
