Rhymes With Feral (Electric Literature's Recommended Reading Book 275)

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Here we have a narrator, Russ, a widower, who works from his neat mausoleum of a home in a Phoenix suburb, a desert town where all the houses don’t look exactly alike but which are inscrutably similar, houses impossible to read in terms of what they hold inside, whether they’re unexpectedly fabulous or boring or shabby. His most interesting activity is keeping an eye on his neighbor’s home across the street, since the neighbor travels often, ostensibly to golf getaways with a group of old friends. The inscrutable Terrell is a mystery, nonetheless, offering few answers to direct questions. Oh, the mysteries, those moments in life when the strangeness of being human descends upon us like a transfusion of chilled self-consciousness, and we sense the frightening and disorienting improbability of our own existence. That’s part of what Alex Higley taps into here. - Brad Watson
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About the Author: Alex Higley is the author of Cardinal and Other Stories . He has been previously published by New World Writing, PANK, Fanzine, Paper Darts, and elsewhere. He lives in Evanston, Illinois with his wife and dog. His first novel, Old Open, a continuation of the story above, will be published by Tortoise Books later this year.

About the Guest Editor: Brad Watson is the author of two collections of stories and two novels, The Heaven of Mercury, which was a finalist for the 2002 National Book Award, and Miss Jane, longlisted for the 2016 National Book Award. His fiction has been published in The New Yorker, Granta, Ecotone, Electric Literature, and the Idaho Review, among other publications. He teaches at the University of Wyoming, Laramie.

About the Publisher: Electric Literature is an independent publisher amplifying the power of storytelling through digital innovation. Electric Literature’s weekly fiction magazine, Recommended Reading, invites established authors, indie presses, and literary magazines to recommended great fiction. Once a month we feature our own recommendation of original, previously unpublished fiction. Recommended Reading is supported by the Amazon Literary Partnership, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. For other links from Electric Literature, follow us, or sign up for our eNewsletter.