Review of "Fear Itself" by Katie Coyle

I reviewed Katie Coyle's story "Fear Itself" (published in One Story) for Ploughshares this week. I love Coyle's story. As I read it the first time, sitting out on our balcony on my day off (a half-eaten donut on the table in front of me, next to a cup of bodega coffee), I felt like a person again, which is what I feel like fiction ultimately does when it's doing its job. Her female characters are people. They aren't teenage-girl cliches. And they not vapid, sexualized objects, which, jesus christ, can't we get some more fiction featuring young women without descriptions of their breasts? The bar is set so low here. But regardless of my, uh, fatigue, Coyle's story is great. I drew hearts all over the margins because there was so much shit to love. The narrator's observations were sharp and accurate. You should read it. 

I'm also really glad I renewed my subscription to One Story at AWP this year. I subscribed for a year or two in college, but was too miserable to keep up and I stopped reading. So, excited to be back. And I'm into getting shit in the mail that isn't a.) a pre-approved credit card offer or b.) a bank statement. Bank statements are 0 fun. 

To be real though, the literary journals I have in my apartment are soon going to overwhelm the free surfaces in my bedroom – You can only artfully stack so many of these things.