Synopses & Reviews
Politically Inspired is an anthology of original short fiction inspired by the news and reflecting the different sides of the confusing issues surrounding us.
Stephen Elliott felt what he was writing wasn't relevant in a time of war and so he began to write fiction based on the world's current events. He realized other authors were having the same dilemma. He acted upon this and put together this anthology after receiving overwhelming response from his writing peers.
Politically Inspired is all-original, never before published fiction inspired by current events. Contributors include:
- Charles Baxter, author of Feast of Love
- Anthony Swofford, author of Jarhead
- David Rees, author of Get Your War On
- Michelle Tea, author of Valencia and Chelsea Whistle; winner of the Lambda award for Best Lesbian Fiction
- Elizabeth Tallent, author of Honey and Museum Pieces; included twice in the Best American Short Stories anthology
- Tom Barbash, author of The Last Good Chance and the nonfiction book On Top Of The World: Cantor Fitzgerald And The 9/11 Tragedy
- Paul LaFarge, author of Artist Of The Missing and Hausmann Or The Distinction
- Zoe Trope, author of Please Don't Kill The Freshman
- Stewart O'Nan, author of The Night Country and The Names of the Dead
- ZZ Packer, author of Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
- Kola Boof, Sudanese-born author of Long Train to the Redeeming Sin
- Etel Adnan, author of Paris When It's Naked, Cities and Women, and Sitte Marie Rose, which has been translated into over ten languages and is considered a classic of Middle Eastern literature
Review
"A superb collection, without a single dud. Grab it." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"These 29 stories...are all overtly and bravely grounded in "recent events," from the war in Iraq to the Patriot Act....[T]he majority succeed like poems in a small space, capturing a moment or unfolding a single, devastating metaphor." Village Voice
About the Author
Stephen Elliott is the author of four novels, including A Life Without Consequences and What It Means to Love You. His new novel will be co-published by MacAdam/Cage and McSweeney's in February 2004. His writing appears regularly in GQ, McSweeney's, and The Sun. He is the Marshall McCall Lecturer at Stanford University.
Table of Contents
The president's new clothes /Anne Ursu --Da' bomb /K. Kvashay-Boyle --Where Eric fell /ZZ Packer --Proper dress /Joan Wilking --Balancing genius /Peter Rock --Jumping Jacks /Doug Dorst --Innocent /Charles Baxter --9/11 L.A. Bookstore /Michelle Tea --Dade County, November 2000 /Jim Shepard --Mr. Mxyzptlk's opus /Ben Greenman --The winning side /Alicia Erian --The K chronicles /Keith Knight --Should I be scared? /Amanda Eyre Ward --The patriot actor /Stephen Elliott --The great Rushdie /Stewart O'Nan -- Duct soup /Andrew Neilsen Sparrow --End-of-the-world sex /Tsaurah Litzky --All in a day's work /Mistress Morgana --The one you meet everywhere /Kola Boof --Eight hundred pages /Elizabeth Tallent --I believe I'm in love with the government /Nasri Hajjaj ;translated byIbrahim Muhawi --Memo to our journalists /Mark Lee --The Shield /F.S. Yu --The vampires of Draconian Hill /Brian Gage Von Do --I am a CBU-87/B Combined Effects Munition (CEM) /David Rees --Lamentation over the destruction of Ur /Paul LaFarge --Freedom oil /Anthony Swofford --The smell of despair /Nick Taylor --The designated marksman /Otis Haschemeyer.