Short stories by Kevin Brockmeier

Kevin Brockmeier's most recent work is the memoir, A Few Seconds of Radiant Filmstrip, and he is the author of the novels, The Illumination, The Brief History of the Dead, and, The Truth About Celia; the story collections, Things That Fall from the Sky, and, The View from the Seventh Layer; and the children’s novels, City of Names, and, Grooves: A Kind of Mystery. His work has been translated into seventeen languages. He has published his stories in The New Yorker, The Georgia Review, McSweeney’s, Zoetrope, Tin House, The Oxford American, The Best American Short Stories, The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, and New Stories from the South. He has recieved the Borders Original Voices Award, three O. Henry Awards, the PEN USA Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and an NEA Grant. In 2007, he was named one of Granta magazine’s Best Young American Novelists. 

Listing 5 stories.

A man finds God’s overcoat at a thrift shop, compelling him to do good for the people whose prayers land in his pockets.

After the death of his wife, a man struggles to comfort his grieving son amidst sudden a power outage.

In an ethereal city located between the world of the living and the afterlife, residents grapple with the effects of a deadly pandemic on Earth— and the mass disappearance of souls from their transitory world.

In an alternative past where each human can access the minds of all other people at all times, a car crash causes one man to lose connection, and he becomes infatuated with the feeling of having a singular mind.

Short bursts of inexplicable silence envelope an unnamed city and its residents, inspiring self-reflection and—much to their surprise—contentment.