The Fabulist in the Woods

KELLY LINK LIVES in a yellow farmhouse in Northampton with her husband, the editor Gavin J. Grant, and their 14-year-old daughter, Ursula. They have a Labradoodle named Koko and, out back, six chickens named after dragons and fonts: Toothless, Falkor, Fafnir, Midgard Serpent, Bembo, and Chancery. When I arrived on a snowy night in January, she offered me wool slippers and tea. "I'm an absolute hobbit," she said-a creature fond of a warm hearth and a quiet evening at home. We settled at the kitchen table beside a potted sweet-potato vine that had sprouted in the pantry. "I didn't have the heart to..." She petted the leaves. "It was so determined."
In the stories of Kelly Link, strange things happen in otherwise ordinary settings. A teenage girl from Iowa travels to New York to find an older guy she met online and ends up at a hotel hosting a pair of conventions: one for dentists and one for superheroes. A girl from the Boston area discovers a lost world preserved inside her grandmother's old handbag (which is made from the skin of a dog that lives inside it). Her stories do not abide by the rules of conflict and resolution-they make sense in the way that dreams make sense. Pressed to explain these phenomena, Link's characters tend to change the subject. "The mechanics of how I can speak are really of no great interest, and I'm afraid I don't really understand it myself, in any case," a talking cat insists in a story from Link's new collection, White Cat, Black Dog. Since 2001, Link has published four books of short stories, with the fifth-a series of unsettling retellings of classic fairy tales-out this month. For much of that time, she has worked in relative obscurity. Early reviewers were impressed by her originality, but she remained largely unknown outside of M.F.A. programs and fantasy circles. When her first book was published more than 20 years ago, serious literature, for the most part, meant one-pound tomes of psychological realism.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March 13 - 26, 2023 من New York magazine.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March 13 - 26, 2023 من New York magazine.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول

The Trouble With Men
Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber lead a pair of plays about master manipulators.

A CHINESE-BACKED SOAP-OPERA APP IS KEEPING L.A. ACTORS EMPLOYED
SECRET BILLIONAIRES. AGE-GAP MARRIAGES. PLENTY OF REVENGE.

The Odd Man Out Who's Always In
Michael Cera was made for the Wes Anderson cinematic universe.

The Young Fellows Ball
Nearly 700 fresh-faced supporters of the Frick Collection dressed up in a \"Porcelain Garden” theme to celebrate the museum's long-awaited reopening.

You Just Can't Top Vaseline
WHILE WE'VE GOT nothing against tiny pots of expensive scented goo, the truth is that Vaseline Lip Therapy Original Mini ($3)-the classic, the staple-is the most effective everyday treatment for dry, cracked lips.

Oops, I Muraled Again
A crafty couple in Jackson Heights cover their one-bedroom apartment in floor-to-ceiling color.

HOLLYWOOD HAS LEFT LOS ANGELES
FOR YEARS, STUDIOS FOUND IT CHEAPER TO SHOOT ELSEWHERE. AND NOW THAT THE INDUSTRY HAS COLLAPSED, ELSEWHERE IS THE ONLY PLACE THEY'LL SHOOT.

EVEN NETFLIX IS JEALOUS OF YOUTUBE
MANY LIKE TO PRETEND THEY DIDN'T SEE THE PLATFORM WINNING THE STREAMING WARS. INDUSTRY INSIDERS SAY OTHERWISE.

Food With Some Tooth
Bánh Anh Em's soups and sandwiches are chewy, crunchy, crispy, and crackly—usually all at once.

Abundant Populism
The GOP is closing in on a massive wealth transfer. Can Democrats unite their warring visions?