Children of the New World: Stories (22 page)
Read Children of the New World: Stories Online
Authors: Alexander Weinstein
Tags: #Fiction, #Literary, #Science Fiction, #Collections & Anthologies, #Short Stories (Single Author)
I am deeply grateful for the love and support of many people. To my parents, for a lifetime of love and guidance. To my son, Peter, the light of my life. Thank you to my agent, Leigh Feldman, and Ilana Masad, for unwavering dedication. My deep gratitude to my editor, the late PJ Horoszko, whose dedication and memory is on every page. Thank you to my publisher at Picador, Stephen Morrison, for believing in my work. To James Meader, Picador’s head of publicity, and Isabella Alimonti. Thank you to Tony and Caroline Grant and the Sustainable Arts Foundation for your support of this collection. To Tony Ardizzone, Samrat Upadhyay, and Ross Gay for many years of guidance and friendship. To Bobbie Louise Hawkins, Jack Collom, Junior Burke, and Barbara Dilley for the Naropa years. Special thanks to Phong Nguyen and Michael Kardos, for invaluable guidance on this collection. To Maria, Aaron, and Judy Christoff for supporting me in so many ways. To Jessica Spilos, for all your love and care. To Robert James Russell, Keith Leonard, Marcus Wicker, Christopher Citro, Abdel Shakur, and Bradley Bazzle for your friendship and edits over the years. To my Danish and English family, for your love and constant encouragement. To Jette & Stephen, Bente & Emilios, and Nicholas (we’ll always take the long boat home). Thanks to all my friends who’ve read my stories, listened to early drafts, and supported me along the way: Sue & Randy, Laura & Jon, Hosef, Tim, Cara, Clay, Tyler, Aquiles, Sherri, Jeremy & Michele, the A2, Geneseo, and Bloomington crew, and a host of others. Thank you to Don Pablo and the Huichol tribe.
Wopila
to Harold Thompson and the Ypsilanti lodge community. And thank you to all the people who are working to make this world a better place.
ALEXANDER WEINSTEIN
is the director of the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing. He is the recipient of a Sustainable Arts Foundation Award, and his stories have received the Lamar York, Gail Crump, Hamlin Garland, and New Millennium Prizes, have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, and appear in the anthology
New Stories from the Midwest 2013.
He is an associate professor of Creative Writing at Siena Heights University and leads fiction workshops in the United States and Europe. You can sign up for email updates
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These are works of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in these stories are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
CHILDREN OF THE NEW WORLD. Copyright © 2016 by Alexander Weinstein. All rights reserved. For information, address Picador, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
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The following stories have been previously published, and a number have appeared in different form: “Saying Goodbye to Yang,” in
Zahir
; “The Cartographers,” in
Chattahoochee Review;
“Heartland,” in
Pleiades;
“Excerpts from
The New World Authorized Dictionary,
” in
Cream City Review;
“Children of the New World,” in
Pleiades;
“A Brief History of the Failed Revolution,” in
Infinity’s Kitchen;
“Migration,” in
PRISM International;
“The Pyramid and the Ass,” in
A Cappella Zoo;
“Rocket Night,” in
Southern Indiana Review;
“Openness,” in
Beloit Fiction Journal;
“Ice Age,” in
Natural Bridge
.
Cover design by Henry Sene Yee
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Names: Weinstein, Alexander author.
Title: Children of the new world: stories / Alexander Weinstein.
Description: First edition.|New York: Picador, 2016.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016019224 (print)|LCCN 2016027252 (ebook)|ISBN 9781250098993 (trade pbk.)|ISBN 9781250099006 (e-book)
Classification: LCC PS3623.E4324467 A6 2016 (print)|LCC PS3623.E4324467 (ebook)|DDC 813/.6—dc23
LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2016019224
e-ISBN 9781250099006
Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at
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First Edition: September 2016
1
. Krotsky, Samuel. “The Global Interface as Political Machine.”
CyberMedical Journal
Vol XII (2028):19.2
. Dksvoskny, Ludov. “Imprisoning the Wind: A Rebuttal of Krotskyism.”
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(2030): 86.4
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Off-Line Disturbances: A History of Interface Dysfunction,
Smith refers to a patient’s inability to speak about anything but variations on casserole recipes as Chronic Googling, and uses this as a metaphor to examine nondysfunctional social behavior, stating that, “Even we, the supposed un-disturbed, still find it hard not to hum pop-up jingles, or assimilate interface ads into our speech, as is the case with the notorious adage,
Mega-fun!
”5
. Medical studies conducted by Bausch & Cartz Pharm. Inc. showed that up to 64 percent of newborns and 78 percent of individuals above the age of eighteen produced insufficient amounts of cyber-cerebral neurotonin to functionally navigate the Interface.6
. Schisberg, Douglas. “Unsettling Disturbances: A Study of Interface Synchronicity.”
CyberMedical Journal
Vol XX (2031): 26.7
. Dunning, Glade. “Nature and Mind.”
Proctor & Gamble Annual Report
(2030): 74c.8
.
The Anti-Interface Protests,
Portland, Oregon. militarystrikeonline.com 12 Sept 2032.9
. Krotsky, Samuel.
Afterthoughts on Revolution.
Chicago: Black Raven Press (2034): 226.
CONTENTS
Excerpts from
The New World Authorized Dictionary