In eight illustrated books, elegantly held together in a single beribboned case, McSweeney’s 28 explores the state of the fable—those astute and irreducible allegories one doesn’t see so much anymore in our strange new age, when everyone is wild for the latest parable or apologue but can’t find time for anything else. Featuring fable-length work by Daniel Alarcón, Sheila Heti, and Nathan Englander, and different illustrators for each piece, McSweeney’s 28 promises to offer many nights’ worth of fine reading.
Table of Contents
Nathan Englander - Poor Little Egg-Boy Hatched in a Shul
Meryl Gelernter was peeling eggs at the kitchen sink of the Hempelbrew Synagogue when she peeled an egg that was her son.
Brian Evenson - The Book and the Girl
Once there was a book who loved a little girl.
Ryan Boudinot - The Guy Who Kept Meeting Himself
Peter started meeting older versions of himself when he was six years old.
Tayari Jones - LaKeisha and the Dirty Girl
LaKeisha Shauntelle Anderson was a very lovely girl who owned everything her heart desired, and hers was a heart with quite an appetite.
Daniel Alarcón - The Thousands
There was no moon that first night, and we spent it as we spent our days: your fathers and your mothers have always worked with their hands.
Sheila Heti - Two Free Men
A depressed man and a suicidal man were hanging out hear a tall wooden bridge over a muddy ravine.
Sarah Manguso - The Box
A man keeps a locked box in the attic.
Arthur Bradford - Virgil Walker
Imagine Mrs. Walker's surprise upon giving birth to a squirming octopus instead of the little human baby she had been expecting.
