A Short Story Recommendation

Continuing with our celebration of National Short Story Month, I wanted to point people in the direction of one of the best short stories I've read in years. Actually, I read it a few years ago, back when I was working at a different independent bookstore. I had the 4pm to Midnight Friday and Saturday newsstand shift (or as I liked to call it, the Lonely Weirdo with No Social Life shift), and we weren't supposed to read at the newsstand (it made it too easy for people to steal porn). But one night, I did read at the newsstand, and what I read was "The Affairs of Each Beast" by David Benioff. It was unlike most of the other short fiction I had read in that it was set in Chechnya and featured Russian infantrymen as protagonists. Much porn was stolen that night, my friends. It's available online at the Zoetrope All-Story site. Enjoy.

David Benioff will be at Vroman's to read from and sign his excellent new book City of Thieves (click on the link to read my recommendation of the book!) on Wednesday, June 4 at 7 pm. See you there.