There’ve been plenty of books on craft published by acclaimed writers before A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, but none have been infused with such belief in the capacity of fiction to change its readers, such revelation of the tricks of the craft, or such empathy for future writers. George Saunders has been […]
Fiction
George Saunders on A Swim in a Pond in the Rain
Cool Uncle
by Emmett Knowlton
This story was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. All summer long Gideon’s nephews had been terrorizing him, waking him with wet willies, reminding him what a loser he’d become. “Do a flip!” they shouted at him in the mornings as he watched them by the pool. “Do some push-ups!” they barked whenever he came back […]
The Only Thing Missing Was the Howling of Wolves
by Rachel Swearingen
The following is excerpted from Rachel Swearingen’s debut story collection, How to Walk on Water. Her stories and essays fiction have appeared in VICE, Agni, American Short Fiction, and elsewhere. A recipient of the 2018 New American Fiction Prize, Swearingen has also won the 2015 Missouri Review Jeffrey E. Smith Editors’ Prize in Fiction and […]
Interview with Salvation Day Author Kali Wallace
by Chase Erwin
Kali Wallace was born and raised in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She attended Brown University, where she took an undergraduate degree in Geology, and the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she completed a Ph.D. in Geophysics. Additionally, she is a graduate of the prestigious Clarion Workshop for SFF writers. Her short fiction has appeared in a […]
Sam Cohen Interviewed by Raki Kopernik: Queer Jewish Writers
In Sarahland, a collection of stories woven together by characters named Sarah, Sam Cohen brilliantly and often hilariously explores the ways in which traditional stories have failed us. The cast of Sarahs finds ways to love the planet and those inhabiting it, and they discover new possibilities for life itself. In each Sarah’s refusal to adhere […]
Sellouts 1970: Love Story: The Year a Screenplay-Turned-Novel Almost Broke the National Book Award
by Kirk Sever
Welcome to Sellouts: 50 Years of Bestsellers, the feature where we pore over the best most popular fiction in America from the last half-century, one year at a time. * For our first installment, we visit an all too familiar setting: a United States fed-up-with and angry about government ineptitude and civil rights inequalities. No, […]
Year-end Wrap-up: Books the MAYDAY Editors Dug in 2020
Believe it or not, we found time to enjoy books during this totally normal year. For some of us, we discovered work written long ago, while others read more recent publications. Either way, books kept us company and helped us escape the despair of endless Zoom meetings. Thanks for letting us share some of the […]
He Went That Way
by Nicholas Cormier III
They approach in a tactical formation. I hear boots, that familiar sound from basic training. Shuffling feet out of step. The numbers are unclear, more of them than me. Sit. That’s the instinct. No victory to be had in the fight. There’s a fight. They push me over. I crawl out into the middle of […]
The Friend Seekers
by Siamak Vossoughi
This story was nominated for The Best of the Net. The boy and the girl were watching the father working in the backyard. It was Saturday afternoon and the sky was gray in a way that seemed like Saturday afternoon was always going to be gray from here on out. The girl was to go […]
Interview with Novelist Miriam McNamara
by Raki Kopernik
Miriam McNamara was born in Ireland, raised in the Southern United States, and now lives in the Midwest. She has an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is the author of two queer young adult historical novels. Her debut, The Unbinding of Mary Reade, was released in 2018 by Sky Pony […]
