A writing critic reviews the construction of Charles Chesnutt’s stories and how to write surfiction.

Following a messy breakup, an MIT graduate and a PhD student at Indiana University separately talk about the problems in their former relationship in two spliced-together conversations, exploring conflicts surrounding language, intimacy, commitment, and intellectualism.

Alyse, a part-time writer, is unable to excavate any interest from her seemingly boring family, utterly unaware of the deeply complex and exciting adventures her brother, sister, and aunt often have

A man reflects on the past week while an unexpected storm rages outside, and he compares the events that follow with the fall of the Roman Empire.

A professor tries to convey to his students the magnitude of the most perfectly crafted poem ever written in the English language: “Lycidas.”

After he is buried alive by a mysterious figure, a hapless artist begins to think the form of intense and scattered fractals, that evoke his artistic background and tenuous relationship with religious iconography.

A man plays bridge on his night off with a few distant friends. Their conversation inspires a tipsy, failed attempt to steal from a drugstore. In this 20th century jail, his excitement turns to anger and doom as he reflects on his crumbling marriage, kids, and childhood.

A woman has an affair with a female lover who works in retouching models and imagines retouching the woman's face and body. The lover carries multiple selves inside of her, one of them a muscular, furry, aggressive man whose body hers (the lover's) sometimes resembles in bed.

A lesbian painter in the Northeastern United States evolves from the 1980s to the 2020s as she witnesses horrible tragedy, familial disapproval, and blazing-hot love.

A young couple obsessed with syntax sets off to meet their favorite author.