Issue No. 8 features fiction, essays, letters, and interviews that explore the sometimes-fuzzy boundary between fiction and fact. There are some stories in this issue that read like fact but are actually fiction. There are some essays that you will swear must be fiction but are, in fact, completely true. There's an interview with an artist whose paintings look like the work of a time centuries past and an interview with a person who holds fake press conferences. The issue is a hardcover book, with a cover designed by Elizabeth Kairys, and contains over three hundred pages of new writing, including:
Letters by Karyn Coughlin, Steve Timm, Mark Honey, Randall Williams, Amie Barrodale, Gary Pike, James Wagner, Lynne Tillman, Colleen Werthmann, Kevin Guilfoile, Edna Mayfair, and J. Robert Lennon;
"The Kauders Case," an essay by Aleksandar Hemon, about his youthful days in Sarajevo;
"Discovery," a story by Samantha Hunt, about a famous astronaut;
"The Original of Laura," an essay by Michel Desommelier, about Vladimir Nabokov's last, unfinished novel;
"After Laura," an essay by Jeff Edmunds, also about the aforementioned unfinished novel;
"Ubar: A Reference," excerpts from the encyclopedia of a fictional culture, written by Janet Bland, Rikki Ducornet, Eric P. Elshtain, Amy England, Carla Howl, Christine Hume, Catherine Kasper, Cynthia Kuhn, Christy Ann Rowe, David Ray Vance;
"Convergences," an essay about a series of portraits by Tina Barney, from the ongoing series of pieces by Lawrence Weschler;
"The Name Machine," a story by Ben Marcus, from his recently published novel Notable American Women;
"Moran's Mexico: A Refutation," an essay by C. Stelzmann, translated from the German by Brian Evenson, about a grandfather done wrong and a grandson trying to right matters;
"The Fernando Pessoa Society," an essay by Rachel Cohen, about a Portuguese poet who wrote under many pseudonyms;
"Unnatural History," an interview with curator Jacques Gauthier, by Joshuah Bearman;
"Mrs. Ferris," a story by Paul LaFarge, concerning an inventor;
"Five Exhibits from Painting the Moon," a series of stories by Gilbert Sorrentino, from his recently completed novel;
"Cross-dresser: The Written Testimony of Captain Jeffrey Dugan, 418th Squadron Bandit #573," a story by Gabe Hudson, from his forthcoming collection Dear Mr. President;
"Problem Set No. 1," a story, involving mathematics, by Jill Marquis;
"Inerrancy," an interview with Dewey L. Johnson, IV, by Rick Moody;
"Darts 'n' Laurels," a story by J. Robert Lennon, about a newspaper in a small town;
"The Nista Affair," an essay by Jonathan Ames, about someone who really did a number on him;
"The Atlas of Man," a story by Steve Tomasula;
"Prospectus," a story by Amie Barrodale, about dog tunnels in Manhattan and why she should be chosen to build them;
"Volume 13: M," excerpts from an encyclopedia that explains things you thought you understood, written by Patrick Borelli, Karyn Coughlin, Ben Dryer, Dan Goldstein, John Hodgman, Mike Jerominski, Eric P. Kraft, Whitney Melton, Eugene Mirman, Cedar Pruitt, Brian Spinks, Bill Wasik, and John Williams;
"Searched the Web for 'conrad applebank,'" a story about search results by Kevin Shay;
"This War Never Happened," an interview with Sandow Birk, painter;
"The Egg," a story by Sean Wilsey, about the Faberge brothers and the rivalry between them;
"The Education of Uncle Josh," an essay by Monique Dufour, about a silent film produced by Thomas Edison;
"Three Obscure Animators," a story by Stepan Chapman, about, yes, three obscure animators;
"Her Seventeenth Summer," an essay by Robert Nedelkoff, about Warren Miller, a fine but forgotten author who wrote two novels as a teenaged girl to make ends meet;
"Convergences," an essay about cuneiform, a Chicago prison, and much else, from the ongoing series of pieces by Lawrence Weschler;
"Juan Refugio Rocha: A Meritorious Life," a story by J. Manuel Gonzales (ends tragically);
"Omnipresent and Uncertain," an essay by Darin Strauss, about what happens when you publish a novel about a famous pair of Siamese Twins, then meet the descendents of those Siamese Twins at one of your readings, only to learn that a number of the descendents believe your novel is non-fiction, and, plus, not very flattering to their ancestors (ends happily);
"Hoaxes without End," an interview with Joey Skaggs, an individual who calls fictional press conferences;
"These Things Never Happen Overnight," an epistolary story by Chris Colin;
"Marche Funebre," a story by Curtis White, about Chopin and his burning beds, from White's recently published novel, Requiem;
"The Blue Guide to Indiana," excerpts from the fictional travel guide by Michael Martone, recently published and available in stores;
"Four Factual Anecdotes on Fiction," an essay by Michael Martone.
Issue No. 8 is guest edited by Paul Maliszewski.
Red dot denotes content that is new today.
Black dot denotes newish content.