Short Stories
Page 3
A Piece of News by Eudora Welty read by Catherine Markey
Ruby, a southern woman, has come in from the rain and is drying herself off and talking to herself. The scene is a
primitive and remote cabin, perhaps in the author's native Mississippi. That she talks to herself so easily indicates
that she is used to being alone. She cries out in astonishment that the sample of coffee on the table is wrapped in
newspaper, and the narrator relates that “She must have been lonesome and slow all her life, the way things would
take her by surprise”. (15m 35s)
No Bikini by Ivan E Coyote.
“I had a sex change once, when I was six years old...it was summer swimming lessons…my mom had bought me a
bikini…It was so easy, the first time, that it didn’t even feel like a crime. I just didn’t wear the top part…The short
form of the birth name my parents bestowed me with was androgynous enough to allow my charade to proceed
through the entire six weeks of swimming lessons, six weeks of boyhood, six weeks of bliss.
--Ivan E. Coyote, “No Bikini”. (6m 32s)
“I had a sex change once, when I was six years old...it was summer swimming lessons…my mom had bought me a
bikini…It was so easy, the first time, that it didn’t even feel like a crime. I just didn’t wear the top part…The short
form of the birth name my parents bestowed me with was androgynous enough to allow my charade to proceed
through the entire six weeks of swimming lessons, six weeks of boyhood, six weeks of bliss.
--Ivan E. Coyote, “No Bikini”. (6m 32s)
Ad by Elizabeth Crane.
Have you ever wondered exactly what you would say if you were driven to place a personal
ad, describing yourself and what you were seeking? Here’s the fantasy of one SWF.
Read by Jill Ikenberry (LA Law). (21m 28s)
Read by Jill Ikenberry (LA Law). (21m 28s)
“The Year of Silence” by Kevin Brockmeier, read by Anthony Rapp.
Kevin Brockmeier’s “The Year of Silence” was included in The Best American Short Stories 2008 It speculates on what it would
be like if all the noise, all the sounds of civilization and daily life, were to fade to an auditory stillness. Brockmeier lives in
Little Rock, Arkansas, and is the author of such novels as THE BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DEAD and THE TRUTH ABOUT
CELIA. Reader Anthony Rapp appeared on Broadway in the musical “Rent” and as Charlie Brown in the Broadway revival of
“YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN.” (53m 23s)
Kevin Brockmeier’s “The Year of Silence” was included in The Best American Short Stories 2008 It speculates on what it would
be like if all the noise, all the sounds of civilization and daily life, were to fade to an auditory stillness. Brockmeier lives in
Little Rock, Arkansas, and is the author of such novels as THE BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DEAD and THE TRUTH ABOUT
CELIA. Reader Anthony Rapp appeared on Broadway in the musical “Rent” and as Charlie Brown in the Broadway revival of
“YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN.” (53m 23s)
“The Woman from Hamburg," by Hanna Krall, read by Hope Davis.
“They put her in a room with a wardrobe. Wardrobes and Jews. This is perhaps one of the most important symbols of
our century. To live in a wardrobe. A human being, in a wardrobe, in the middle of the 20th century, in the heart of Europe.”
–Hanna Krall, “The Woman from Hamburg.” (24m 35s)
“They put her in a room with a wardrobe. Wardrobes and Jews. This is perhaps one of the most important symbols of
our century. To live in a wardrobe. A human being, in a wardrobe, in the middle of the 20th century, in the heart of Europe.”
–Hanna Krall, “The Woman from Hamburg.” (24m 35s)
"The First Sense," by Nadine Gordimer, read by Joanna Gleason.
The Nadine Gordimer story “THE FIRST SENSE” describes the delicate construct of a marriage . (21m 54s)
The Nadine Gordimer story “THE FIRST SENSE” describes the delicate construct of a marriage . (21m 54s)
“Liberty Hall” by Ring Lardner, read by Christina Pickles
One can liken this story, Ring Lardner’s “Liberty Hall” to the traveling game of “Conversation Stoppers” in which players
vie for the honor of making the most boring observation. In this Lardner tale, first published in 1928 in a magazine with
the fitting title “Hearst’s International Cosmopolitan,” a sophisticated show business couple get trapped in a ghastly
chatter-filled weekend and take extraordinary measures to escape. The zestful reader is five-time Emmy winner and
screen actor Christina Pickles. (24m 36s)
One can liken this story, Ring Lardner’s “Liberty Hall” to the traveling game of “Conversation Stoppers” in which players
vie for the honor of making the most boring observation. In this Lardner tale, first published in 1928 in a magazine with
the fitting title “Hearst’s International Cosmopolitan,” a sophisticated show business couple get trapped in a ghastly
chatter-filled weekend and take extraordinary measures to escape. The zestful reader is five-time Emmy winner and
screen actor Christina Pickles. (24m 36s)
Water Names by Lan Samantha Chang.
Four quarrelsome sisters are held spellbound as their Chinese grandmother spins a tale of enchanted love in ancient times in
Lan Samantha Chang’s “Water Names.” Actress and performance artist Dawn Akemi Saito, the reader here, has performed her
own work, including "Knock on the Sky" and "Blood Cherries" in theaters around the country and in Austria. She has also
appeared in "My House is Collapsing Toward One Side" and "Hiroshima Maiden."
Four quarrelsome sisters are held spellbound as their Chinese grandmother spins a tale of enchanted love in ancient times in
Lan Samantha Chang’s “Water Names.” Actress and performance artist Dawn Akemi Saito, the reader here, has performed her
own work, including "Knock on the Sky" and "Blood Cherries" in theaters around the country and in Austria. She has also
appeared in "My House is Collapsing Toward One Side" and "Hiroshima Maiden."