K-Ming Chang

"In "Auntland," a steady stream of aunts adjust to American life by sneaking surreptitious kisses from women at temple, buying tubs of strawberry ice-cream to prepare for citizenship tests, and hatching plans to name their daughter "Dog." In "The Chorus of Dead Cousins," ghost-cousins cross space, seas, and skies to haunt their live-cousin, wife to a storm-chaser. In "Xífù," a mother-in-law tortures a wife in increasingly unsuccessful attempts to rid the house of her. In "Mariela," two girls explore one another's bodies for the first time while in "Virginia Slim," a woman from a cigarette ad comes to life. And in "Resident Aliens," a former slaughterhouse serves as a residence to a series of widows, each harboring her own calamitous secrets"--

Stories

Gods of Want

Lindsay

I had an aunt who massaged my elbows when I cried and said the heart is a hinge, to live it must bend.

I wanted to tell her that some people don't need to get closer to death. They are born inside it and will never leave.

She didn't know death isn't like a man. It won't just take you anytime you're on your back.

I was the one who kept changing sides, who kept going back and forth between being a girl and being a boy, who decided finally on being a shadow.

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