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First Paragraphs
"The Red Ribbon" by Aimee Bender
It began with his fantasy, told to her one night over dinner and wine at l’Oiseau d’Or, a French restaurant with tiny gold birds etched into every plate and bowl.
“My college roommates,” he said, during the entrée. “Once brought home.”
“Drugs?”
“Women,” said Daniel softly, “that they paid for.”
"Little Things" by Matt Sumell
I folded my arms. They felt big, capable of anything. Lifting, carrying, digging, feeding cows PCP so they revolt with unexpected and tremendous violence—anything. Wrapping gifts in tissue paper and busting teeth out of Christian heads. Pumping bicycle tires, pumping gas, pumping iron, bagging my own groceries and skipping boulders across the Long Island Sound all the way to Connecticut. Cracking eggs with one hand and folding laundry. Pushing my Mexican neighbor’s broke-down car across the street Thursday mornings to avoid street sweeping tickets and tossing my cell phone to a friend who needs to make an important call to his mom. Opening every jar for every lady. Helping. I felt like helping. I felt like I could help.
"Some Contemporary Characters" Rick Moody
There are things in this taxable and careworn world that can only be said in a restrictive interface with a minimum of characters:
Saw him on OkCupid. Agreed to meet. In his bio he said he had a “different conception of time.” And guess what? He didn’t show.
I waited for her three days. On and off. True, they were the wrong three days. Went back a week later—to that coffee shop of longing.
Bunch more online dates. All candidates underemployed with big plans. One guy worked in sewage treatment. One guy played sax on the IRT .
The waitress at the establishment used the word “honey” repeatedly. Each time it was a kindness in that lonely urban setting.
No lie: I walk by the place where I was supposed to meet that man, two weeks later, he’s sitting there reading a book.
"Reed & Dinnerstein Moving" by Patrick deWitt
It was Reed’s wife’s idea that he and Dinnerstein should start a moving company. Reed feigned enthusiasm, but in truth was hopeful the inspiration might vanish, as so many of her other inspirations had. Then she found them a job and rented them a truck, unfolding the cash on the agency counter as though the bills might burst into flames. Now here they were, two men driving along at dawn, stunned by the turn of fate. It was early for them, and sleep clung heavily to their faces. Reed suggested their infant business was in need of a slogan.
"The Tunnel" by Jenny Offill
At first, it was hard to look at her. She had those bright eyes that the dying do. They say time turns hawkish, that you feel it like a wing crossing over you.
Contributor Bios
Aimee Bender is the author of three books, and her fourth is forthcoming this summer. Her short fiction has been published in Granta, GQ, Tin House, The Paris Review, Harper’s, and more, as well as heard on “This American Life” and “Selected Shorts”. She lives in Los Angeles.
Adam Cvijanovic is an artist who lives and works in NYC. He can be contacted at adamcvijan@gmail.com
Patrick deWitt was born in British Columbia, Canada, in 1975. His debut novel, Ablutions: Notes for a Novel, was published in 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in the US and Granta Books in the UK. Visit him at patrickdewitt.net
Rick Moody is the author of four novels, three collections of stories, and a memoir, The Black Veil. His new novel, The Four Fingers of Death, will be published in July 2010. He also plays music in The Wingdale Community Singers, whose new album, Spirit Duplicator, is out now.
Jenny Offill is the author of the novel Last Things, which was a New York Times Notable Book and a finalist for the L.A. Times’ Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. Her short stories and essays have appeared in Story, Epoch, The Gettysburg Review, Boulevard, and The San Francisco Review of Books, among other places.
A native of Long Island, New York, Matt Sumell is currently living in Los Angeles and finishing up his first collection of interconnected short stories, tentatively titled Making Nice. A graduate of UC Irvine’s MFA program, he has been the recipient of the Arlene Cheng Fellowship in Creative Writing, the Glenn Schaeffer Award, and a Wagner Fellowship. His short fiction has appeared in Faultline, The Brooklyn Review, Book Glutton, SaltGrass, The Greenbelt Review, and Noon.
Adam Thompson’s drawing installations and slideshows have been exhibited at various New York venues, including Thomas Jaeckel Gallery, Crossing Art, and Dixon Place. He is an art reviewer for Art Papers magazine, and his writing has also appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, Art Notes, and Flavorpill. He produced the art for Bicycle by Paul Fattarusso (Hotel St. George Press, 2008). Adam received his BA in Art History from Yale University (2004) and his MFA in Visual Art from Brooklyn College (2008), where he now teaches art. A book of his drawings is forthcoming in May from Regency Arts Press. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, writer Helen Phillips.
Artwork: Trimspa by Adam Cvijanovic
Design: Bill Smith, designSimple