The True Story of the Actual First Shot Fired in the Civil War

It was the autumn of 1865—a quiet, bitter autumn after four hollowing years of war—when James Gilmore received a manuscript from a ghost. Well, not a ghost exactly. There’d been rumors, of course, about what had become of William Parker.

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The New Yorker

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“Narrow Escape,” by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Fiction by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, in English for the first time: The police lieutenant appeared to be writing down exactly what Gleb was telling him, but relying upon completely different words.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn·Sep 27, 2026·14 min read

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Literary Hub

What Doireann Ní Ghríofa is Reading Now, and Next

In her new book, Said the Dead, Doireann Ní Ghríofa is “the Reader,” a third-person protagonist. “In the asylum edgelands, she stumbled on a ghost story,” Ní Ghríofa writes. Following clues of happenstance and augury, she seeks the details of

Doireann Ní Ghríofa·Sep 24, 2026

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Literary Hub

Sam A. Miller on YouTube Storytelling and Choosing Science Fiction

Fiction writer and popular YouTuber Sam A. Miller joins co-hosts Christian Barter and V.V. Ganeshananthan to talk about his debut story collection, Still Lost: Tales from the Year 2080, as well as his educational and comedic videos. Miller reflects on

Fiction Non Fiction·Sep 24, 2026

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Public Books

The Treachery of Machine Realism

“The bombed elementary school in Iran appears to have become a target thanks to satellite imaging. In this case, what the image represented — and to who — was a matter of life and death.” The post The Treachery of Machine Realism appeared first on Public Books.

Morgan Barry·Sep 23, 2026

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The Paris Review

John Berger, Death’s Secretary: A Conversation with Tom Overton

“The first letter I sent to him was about a print that he’d made, which was in the archive—a Chagall-inspired Virgin Mary standing on a donkey.”

Scott Schomburg·Sep 24, 2026

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The Conversation

Australian poetry classics: Les Murray’s The Broad Bean Sermon is inexhaustible food for contemplation

The Broad Bean Sermon, while not his best-known poem, shows why Les Murray is considered by some to be Australia’s preeminent poet.

David McCooey, Professor of Writing and Literature, Deakin University·Sep 24, 2026