A collection, for me, is a book of very diverse stories that somehow speak to each other, across wide geography, across time, years, decades.

I have a friend who teaches yoga (or is it pilates?), and she said that I don't seem to live in the moment. And I said, "Exactly!" I'd go nuts if I lived in the moment.

What you can do with a short story that you can't do with a novel is punch someone in the gut, in the best of ways.

I think some writers should wait for something to say.

I think anything we do - eating, walking down the street, online shopping - gives you another perspective on writing stories.

A collection, for me, is a book of very diverse stories that somehow speak to each other, across wide geography, across time, years, decades.

Alexis Coe rescues a buried but extraordinarily telling episode from the 1890s that resonates in all sorts of ways with today. That in itself would be an accomplishment. But this is a book that is truly riveting, a narrative that gallops. Lizzy Borden eat your heart out. Here’s a real crime of passion. Or was it? I dare you to pick this one up and try, just try to put it down.