“Everyone started to hunker down. They were busy with work, and some people had begun having families, too, so they stayed home with their kids on the weekend, which made sense. People evaporated, though only by about fifty percent: they still existed as texts and likes and shares. Like ghosts, showing up at a séance by way of knocking over your teacup.”
-Adrienne Celt
“Over time, many small infatuations rippled the surface of her mind, like the spring breeze that makes new leaves tremble without changing their life’s course.”
-Tove Ditlevsen
“So as long as it lasts, I want to write nearby Rodrigo Toscano, who pulls his Spanglish phonetic syllables apart like taffy (“tha’ vahnahnah go-een to keel joo”).”
-Cathy Park Hong
“it was the longest day of the year, and the Irish Sea had a metallic tint. The waves were tiny but insistent, like uncoöperative children.”
-D.T. Max
“The laughter came wrung out against my will like sugar, like sweat, like a whole child, like oil from a grape seed, an unlikely miracle.”
-Venita Blackburn
“Nora’s voice was annoyingly like Alison’s, precise and concerned, careful, like the handwriting on a get-well card.”
-Alexandra Kleeman
“Aleq sat with him, but Malik didn’t seem to see him. Food appeared on his lap and then was taken away. Aleq reminded him of the way, on bad-weather days, they used to tell each other that if they closed their eyes and opened them again, the sun would be back out.
Finally Malik moved his arms and opened his eyes. His head swayed like they were on a boat.”
-Jim Shepard