Girltown (Electric Literature's Recommended Reading)

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"Kate Wheeler’s fiction is surprising for the things it doesn’t do," writes Stephen O'Connor, author of Here Comes Another Lesson, in his introduction to this issue of Recommended Reading. "It is precisely in their humility that Wheeler’s stories are most ambitious. She has chosen to do without the props and safety nets provided by conventional plotting and characterization, because she wants to render human beings exactly as they are—unembellished, undistorted, and unromanticized. Her stories fascinate, move, and amuse, because in almost every detail and action, she shows us the world in a way that we have never quite seen it, but that feels absolutely true."

About Recommended Reading:
Great authors inspire us. But what about the stories that inspire them? Recommended Reading, the latest project from Electric Literature, publishes one story every week, each chosen by a great author or editor. In this age of distraction, we uncover writing that's worth slowing down and spending some time with. And in doing so, we help give great writers, literary magazines, and independent presses the recognition they deserve.

About the Author:
Kate Wheeler grew up in North Carolina among green things. She has an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and her work has appeared in The Westchester Review.She lives in Brooklyn.

About the Guest Editor:
Stephen O'Connor is the author of two collections of short fiction, Here Comes Another Lesson and Rescue, and of two works of nonfiction, Will My Name Be Shouted Out?, a memoir, and Orphan Trains: The Story of Charles Loring Brace and the Children He Saved and Failed, a biography/history.
His fiction and poetry have appeared in The New Yorker, Conjunctions, One Story, The Missouri Review, Poetry Magazine, Beloit Poetry Journal, Electric Literature, Agni, Threepenny Review, Black Clock, The Quarterly, Partisan Review, among many other places, and his story, “Ziggurat,” was read by Tim Curry on Selected Shorts in October 2011. His essays and journalism have been published in The New York Times, DoubleTake, The Nation, Agni, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, The New Labor Forum, and elsewhere. He teaches in the MFA programs of Columbia and Sarah Lawrence.