The gripping, thought-provoking stories in Yxta Maya Murray’s latest collection find their inspiration in the headlines. Here, ordinary people negotiate tentative paths through wildfire, mass shootings, bureaucratic incompetence, and heedless government policies with vicious impacts on the innocent and helpless. A nurse volunteers to serve in catastrophe-stricken Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria and discovers that her skill and compassion are useless in the face of stubborn governmental inertia. An Environmental Protection Agency employee, whose agricultural-worker parents died after long exposure to a deadly pesticide, finds herself forced to find justifications for reversing regulations that had earlier banned the chemical. A Department of Education employee in a dystopic future America visits a highly praised charter school and discovers the horrific consequences of academic failure. A transgender trainer of beauty pageant contestants takes on a beautiful Latina for the Miss USA pageant and brings her to perfection and the brink of victory, only to discover that she has a fatal secret.
The characters in The World Doesn't Work That Way, but it Could grapple with the consequences of frightening attitudes and policies pervasive in the United States today. The stories explore not only our distressing human capacity for moral numbness in the face of evil, but also reveal our surprising stores of compassion and forgiveness. These brilliantly conceived and beautifully written stories are troubling yet irresistible mirrors of our time.
_______________________________________________
Produced by Maddie Gobbo & Michael Kowaleski
Theme: "I Love All My Friends," a new, unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.
Visit https://www.skylightbooks.com/event for future offerings from the Skylight Books Events team.
SKYLIT: Yaba Blay, "ONE DROP"
SKYLIT: Celia Laskey, "UNDER THE RAINBOW" w/ Peter Kispert
SKYLIT: Ron Nyren, "THE BOOK OF LOST LIGHT" w/ Judy Juanita + Karen Kevorkian
SKYLIT: Sy Hoahwah, "ANCESTRAL DEMON OF A GRIEVING BRIDE"
SKYLIT: Joshua Mohr, "MODEL CITIZEN" w/ Gina Frangello
LIVE ON CROWDCAST: Tod Goldberg, "THE LOW DESERT" w/ Mark Haskell Smith
SKYLIT: Erika Moen & Matthew Nolan, "LET'S TALK ABOUT IT"
LIVE ON CROWDCAST: "SPECULATIVE LOS ANGELES"
SKYLIT: Dr. Mahmood Mamdani, "NEITHER SETTLER NOR NATIVE" w/ Dr. Gil Anidjar
LIVE ON CROWDCAST: Lauren Oyler, "FAKE ACCOUNTS" w/ Naomi Fry
LIVE ON CROWDCAST: Melissa Broder, "MILK FED" w/ ryan o'connell
SKYLIT: Richard Thompson Ford, "DRESS CODES" w/ Lance Morgan
SKYLIT: Clover Hope, "THE MOTHERLODE" w/ Nadeska Alexis
SKYLIT: Rebecca Morgan Frank, "OH YOU ROBOT SAINTS!" w/ Catherine Pierce
SKYLIT: Rich Ferguson, "EVERYTHING IS RADIANT BETWEEN THE HATES" w/ Special Guests
SKYLIT: Amy Shira Teitel, "FIGHTING FOR SPACE"
SKYLIT: Kay Gabriel & Andrea Abi-Karam, "WE WANT IT ALL"
LIVE ON CROWDCAST: Lynell George, "A HANDFUL OF EARTH, A HANDFUL OF SKY" w/ Louise Steinman
LIVE ON CROWDCAST: Megan Rosenbloom, "DARK ARCHIVES" w/ Caitlin Doughty
SKYLIT: Catie Disabato, "U UP?"
Join Podbean Ads Marketplace and connect with engaged listeners.
Advertise Today
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Voice of Mushfik
Lit Society: Books and Drama
Ex Libris
Anne of Green Gables
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Fresh Air
Myths and Legends