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Hey I understand you're angry, the first message said. A man's voice, probably a man my age.
—From "The Ferry," a short story by Ben Lerner, The New Yorker (April 10, 2023), pp. 52-59.
When he opened the front door—he was leaving on his way to work in the city—a letter fluttered to the ground. The envelope had been stuck in the doorjamb, and it was crumpled as if someone had tried to force it in.
—From the title story of To the Kennels: And Other Stories, a collection by Hye-young Pyun, translated from the Korean by Sora Kim-Russell and Heinz Insu Fenkl (Arcade Publishing, 2024). "To the Kennels" begins on page 25 of the hardcover. An earlier version of this story, translated by Yoosup Chang and Heinz Insu Fenkl, appeared in Azalea: Journal of Korean Literature & Culture, Harvard University, Korea Institute, Vol. 2, Fall 2008.
On Tuesday night, Sasha and Monique decide to go to the bar where Sasha is supposed to meet [her married lover's wife] and scope it out. It is a shockingly seedy place, even for this high up on Amsterdam Avenue, with decaying wood walls and a dank unpleasant smell.
—From Single, Carefree, Mellow, a collection of short stories by Katherine Heiny (Knopf, 2015).
Tsuneo Ibuki and Toyoki Mikamé sat facing one another in a booth in a coffee shop on the second floor of Kyoto Station.
Between them on the narrow imitation-wood tabletop were a vase holding a single white chrysanthemum and an ashtray piled high with cigarette butts, suggesting that the two men had been in conversation for some time.
—From Masks, a novel by Fumiko Enchi, translated from the Japanese by Juliet Winters Carpenter (Vintage Edition, 1983).
I don't think I believe in leagues. That implies that attraction is more hierarchical than it actually is.
—From I Ate the Whole World to Find You, a graphic novel by Rachel Ang (Drawn & Quarterly, 2025).