By Marlon James, from A Brief History of Seven Killings, a novel to be published next month by Riverhead. James is the author of a previous novel, The Book of…

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By Silvina Ocampo, from Thus Were Their Faces, forthcoming in January from New York Review Classics. Ocampo (1903–93) was an Argentine poet and short-story writer. Translated from the Spanish by…

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A dead man twists around one of my Doric columns. I chose these columns for their plainness, their strength. I liked imagining people looking up at my home, its smoky…

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Sweet September up in the Boone — twenty past last bell on the first day of school and a pumpkin-colored school bus tools down Boone Street laying middle schoolers along…

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By Christina Nichol, from Waiting for the Electricity, her debut novel, published last month by Overlook.Dear Hillary Clinton:My name is Slims Achmed Makashvili and i am from the little town…

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Rivka Galchen © Sandy Tait The characters in Rivka Galchen’s new collection, American Innovations, are as surprised and confused by time travel, mysterious growths, and encounters with the dead as they…

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By Francine Prose, from Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932, published in April by Harper. Prose is a contributing editor of Harper’s Magazine.

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By Bohumil Hrabal, from Harlequin’s Millions, published last month by Archipelago Books. Hrabal (1914–1997) was the author of many novels, including I Served the King of England and Too Loud…

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Sirs — Having read with interest Dr. Pritchard’s recent report of the young woman with paroxysmal amnesia and transformation of personality, as well as Dr. Slayer’s study “On the So-called…

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