We have even included some excerpts for you to check out. As you read through the Table of Contents, click on the orange links to catch a glimpse of what this issue holds for you.

FICTION

STACEY RICHTER CHRIST, THEIR LORD
Outside in the street, I can hear people caroling-caroling, the most odious of verbs

MARY YUKARI WATERSCASTE SYSTEM
She still remembered her early childhood here, how it had felt to board a bus or walk down a street: the baleful stares of children, the frank curiosity of vendors.

ANDY MOZINATHE WOMEN WERE LEAVING THE MEN
The worst thing was no one pitied the men enough. They tried to pity each other, but they repelled each other.

MARSHALL N. KLIMASEWISKITHE THIRD HOUSE
He said, "I'm making toast here, Henry, and we have some apple butter-will you join me?" but it was as if he had said, "My sons died young, Henry, and my wife is an invalid-can you imagine?"

WENDY RAWLINGS BERRIES ON THE VINE
She claimed to love a woman named Pattie. Pattie had a husband, too. It was ludicrous.

AIMEE BENDER END OF THE LINE
"You're mine now" he told the little man. "I paid good money for you".

CAROL ANSHAW TOUCH AND GO
If she finds out that Diane has a hobby or a vacation time-share, the fantasy will collapse in on itself; it is not a weight-bearing structure.

AMANDA EYRE WARD THE WAY THE SKY CHANGED
I had heard about the rib, of course, but I did not expect it to be at the Smiths' Christmas party. Yet there it was, on the mantel, sandwiched between a bowl of cinnamon-scented potpourri and a holly sprig.

NEW VOICE
FICTION
DAN FRAZIER An excerpt from THE EMPRESS AND THE ELEPHANT
She had always resisted feelings of loathing toward her family, even when they were justifiable. Here, though, Karen's hatred felt momentarily curative.

JULIANNA BAGGOTT POETRY DESPISES YOUR ATTEMPTS AT DOMESTICITY TERMITES: A CAUTION ON LOVE POETRY

PHILIP METRESBAT SUITE

AMY BARTLETTSix poems by the late poet and Tin House poetry editor Amy Bartlett, with an introduction by Tom Sleigh

ON THE OBSERVATION DECK OF THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING
SUMACBONE MARROW HARVESTCHEST X-RAY2 A.M. FROM MY WINDOW

JEFFREY SKINNER FINDECISION BICYCLE, MARRIAGE

MICHAEL LOUGHRANNIGHT SONGS

ERIK CAMPBELLDEAD MANÕS WALLET

DAVID STEVENSTHE ARTISTÕS MODEL

GEORGE SAUNDERS, BY JAMES SCHIFF
Gogol and Hemingway walk into Wal-Mart... Which writer spins it into literary gold? (Answer: The funny one.) Noted story writer George Saunders talks to James Schiff about imitating his own early work, trusting the "hot spots," and the literary role of humor.

PLAY

An excerpt from THE BURIAL AT THEBES: A VERSION OF SOPHOCLES' ANTIGONE TRANSLATED BY SEAMUS HEANEY
What are Creon's rights when it comes to me and mine? The ancient question still matters.

LUCIA PERILLO SICK FUCK
The body fails everyone eventually, but some more spectacularly than others. What happens to sex when there are machines inside and out?

ADAM ZAGAJEWSKIPOETRY AND DOUBT
TRANSLATED BY CLARE CAVANAGH
Polish writer Zagajewski compares the poetry of Czeslaw Milosz and Emil Cioran - two contemporaries with profoundly opposing philosophies.

DAVID LEHMAN on DAVID GOODIS'S BLACK FRIDAY

JOHN ROWELL on IRIS OWENS'S AFTER CLAUDE

FRANK BURES on PRAMOEDYA ANANTA TOER'S WHISPERED STORIES ON BURU

MONTANA WOJCZUK on ALAN SILLITOE'S THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG-DISTANCE RUNNER

P. GENESIUS DURICA on ANGELA CARTER'S TRANSLATION OF THE FAIRY TALES OF CHARLES PERRAULT

FRANK BURES on PRAMOEDYA ANANTA TOER'S WHISPERED STORIES on BURU

HEATHER HARTLEYIN A CROWDED KITCHEN: A CULINARY AND LITERARY PORTRAIT OF GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE
The poet and Lucullan epicure banished at least one lover from his Paris garret over an inferior risotto.