Joseph O'Neill

Joseph O'Neill's "Pardon Edward Snowden" and "The First World" are short stories I enjoyed this September. Likewise, O'Neill's interview in The Paris Review includes this gem: "Publication is almost certainly a punishment for having written a book."

Daniel Kalder

Best known for his Russian travel narratives, Daniel Kalder published a new book,  

The Infernal Library: On Dictators, the Books They Wrote, and Other Catastrophes of Literacy.

He was writing his novels. . .

"He was writing his novels as a way to escape his life."

South Korean sighting

Jessica Bruder's Nomadland

Among the wide range of books in the post-Nickle-and-Dimed category on American workers in economic trouble, Nomadland is an informative title that I enjoyed.

Hillary Leftwich on "Free Car"

"Alex Kudera’s 'Free Car' is not a story about a car. It’s a story about a car taking a man through a series of events that lead to his 'situation,' or 'stagnant stuckness.' How memory is a tricky thing, and what the brain can recall in its own ghost patterns isn’t always what is remembered when we need it to be. 'Free Car' is reminiscent of what we will do once we are pushed across our own bottom line and realize even in our own day-to-day hustles, a certain amount of satisfaction can still be found." 

 ~~Hillary Leftwich 
Ghosts are Just Strangers Who Know How to Knock forthcoming from CCM 2019. Website: https://hillaryleftwich.wordpress.com/  Twitter: @hillaryleftwich