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.
LIVE ON CROWDCAST: Aimee Bender, "THE BUTTERFLY LAMPSHADE" w/ Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
SKYLIT: Megan Margulies, "MY CAPTAIN AMERICA" w/ Eva Hagberg,
SKYLIT: Erica C. Barnett, "QUITTER" w/ Maer Roshan
SKYLIT: Ahrm Choi Wild & Muriel Leung
SKYLIT: Arthur Nersesian, "THE FIVE BOOKS OF (ROBERT) MOSES" w/ Johnny Temple
SKYLIT: Daniel WK Lee, "ANATOMY OF WANT" w/ Shane Lukas
SKYLIT: Rachel Kauder Nalebuff, "STAGES" w/ Sarah Ruhl
Handsell, Ep. 13, "Eden Hain of JUNIOR HIGH"
SKYLIT: Kristen Millares Young, "SUBDUCTION"
LIVE ON CROWDCAST: Brandy Colbert, "THE VOTING BOOTH" w/ Nina Lacour
Handsell, Ep. 12, "Chris Pine's Good Mask and LAPL's Jennifer Siron"
LIVE ON CROWDCAST: Wayne Koestenbaum, "FIGURE IT OUT" w/ Maggie Nelson
LIVE ON CROWDCAST: Rosalie Knecht, "VERA KELLY IS NOT A MYSTERY" w/ Amy Stewart
LIVE ON CROWDCAST: Tom Rastrelli, "CONFESSIONS OF A GAY PRIEST" w/ Janet Finch
LIVE ON CROWDCAST: Sara Sligar and Amy Jo Burns
LIVE ON ZOOM: "OBJECT LESSONS" Group Reading
LIVE ON ZOOM: Yuri Herrera, "A SILENT FURY" w/ John Gibler
LIVE ON ZOOM: Bethany C. Morrow, "A SONG BELOW WATER" w/ Mark Oshiro
Pedro Jiménez & Matthew Gleeson, "EARTHLY DAYS BY JOSÉ REVUELTAS"
LIVE ON ZOOM: Meredith Talusan, "FAIREST" w/ Amber Tamblyn
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
Black Beauty
Anne of Green Gables
Fresh Air
Myths and Legends