One Great Short Story To Read Today: Leigh Newman’s “nobody Gets Out Alive”

According to nan powers that beryllium (er, apparently according to Dan Wickett of nan Emerging Writers Network), May is Short Story Month. To celebrate, for nan third twelvemonth successful a row, nan Literary Hub unit will beryllium recommending a azygous short story, free* to publication online, each (work) time of nan month. Why not publication on pinch us? Today, we recommend:

Leigh Newman, “Nobody Gets Out Alive”

This titular portion from Newman’s fantabulous 2022 postulation shows what tin hap erstwhile you leap into emotion earlier you tin spot nan bottommost of a pool. We travel a recently engaged mates who task into nan Alaskan hinterland (her family’s home) for an engagement statement that goes highly sideways. Carter, our closest brain, is bewildered successful nan wild. The communicative diagrams his slow realization that his beloved Katrina, and her strange, haunted Anchorage, are overmuch darker than first blush conveyed.

I for illustration Newman for her cheek, and a very reliable cocktail. Her stories ever put precisely loving, idiosyncratic explanation (“Each greeting astatine 6 am, he ironed his jeans successful nan kitchen. Each nighttime astatine 6 pm, he barbecued a chickenhearted connected nan platform wearing a parka patched pinch duct portion connected nan elbows”) correct adjacent to breezy insight. Like this line: “Love was dumbifying. It had nary articulation isolated from sex, happiness, an befuddlement.” I honestly deliberation she’s 1 of our finest characteristic portraitists, and I ever scout nan bylines for her name. Fall into this creepy evening, past do yourself a favour and drawback nan all-killer-no-filler book.

The communicative begins:

Getting past nan mastodon took planning. The awesome plated skull was wedged betwixt nan fireplace and nan credenza, leaving nan 2 ivory tusks splayed crossed nan carpet wherever a java array belonged. To exit nan wedding party, guests either stepped complete 1 tusk, past nan other—a prime that required skillful footwork and a definite level of sobriety—or jumped complete some pinch an awkward, last-minute leap.

Read it here.

*If you deed a paywall, we urge trying pinch a different/private/incognito browser (but listen, you didn’t perceive it from us).