■ From my earliest childhood I’ve been continually stirred and appalled by the combination of intrepidness and lunacy that you’ll find reliably on display over the course of British military history. I probably first wrote about it in graduate school, with a short story about young contemporary newlyweds who inexplicably find themselves in the middle of the Charge of the Light Brigade. I’ve also always found the combination of helplessness and terror and claustrophobia in the submarine service during the world wars to be equally compelling, and in my nerdy reading around in the subject came across two details that stuck with me. The first was that the Admiralty during World War II had refused to equip its submarines with snorkels—periscopic breathing tubes—that would allow a refreshed air supply without surfacing, arguing that there was no tactical requirement for such a fitting. The second was that in those dark days in 1942 in the Pacific following the fall of Singapore and the Dutch East Indies and the sinking of the Prince of Wales and the Repulse, the British found themselves with two or three combat ships in total standing between the entire Japanese Navy and the rest of the Indian Ocean. That sort of juxtaposition—one tiny schlumpy unit against a stupefyingly large menace—always snags my imagination. And then my wife, Karen, and I were talking about the kind of guy who likes to blunder through the world pretending that he doesn’t know things and who needs to be reminded every so often that his ignorance is causing other people pain, and suddenly I had my protagonist.
Curtis Sittenfeld is the best-selling author of five novels: Prep, The Man of My Dreams, American Wife, Sisterland, and Eligible. Her first story collection, You Think It, I’ll Say It, will be published in 2018 and will include “Gender Studies.” Her books have been selected by the New York Times, Time, Entertainment Weekly, and People for their Ten Best Books of the Year lists, optioned for television and film, and translated into twenty-five languages. Her short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, the Washington Post, and Esquire, and her nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times, Time, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, Slate, and on This American Life. She lives with her family in St. Louis.
■ Like many fiction writers, I wrote short stories before I wrote novels, and I loved reading and writing the form. But after my first novel was published in 2005, I mostly stopped writing stories, even though I continued to read them. (The exceptions were a few times when magazines invited me to write fiction about topics of their choosing.) In May 2016, after the publication of my fifth novel, I was feeling a bit of what-do-I-do-with-myself-now? agitation, and the best way I know to address agitation is by writing. During the years I’d been writing novels, I’d stored up ideas, including one about a woman who loses her driver’s license while on a work trip, which is how I conceived of this story; I didn’t see it as a political allegory, though I understand that to some extent it is. Also, of course, I wrote it at a time when I and most Americans believed Hillary Clinton would win the 2016 election, and—full disclosure—I’ve added four words to accommodate the way its meaning changed after she didn’t. Anyway, all of this is to say that “Gender Studies” just might be the first story I wrote as a bona fide adult, about a topic I’d chosen. The only other thing I have to add is that I first read a Best American Short Stories anthology in the summer of 1992, between my junior and senior years of high school, and I was enthralled and delighted by it. It’s such an honor to now contribute to the series.
A former National Book Award finalist, Jess Walter is the author of eight books, most recently the novel Beautiful Ruins and the story collection We Live in Water. His stories were also selected for The Best American Short Stories 2012 and 2015. He lives in Spokane, Washington, with his family.
■ I got to know a famous actor once. We were working on a script together for a movie that would never get made, and we spent some time drinking, hanging out, and talking about our lives. We’d send each other texts and emails, exchange music and book recommendations, and I was surprised how open he seemed. In fact, we got so close that after our film’s funding fell apart, I sent him a text: This doesn’t mean you and I can’t stay in touch.
He texted back, Who is this?
I’d made the classic Hollywood blunder: I forgot that actor friendships are basically summer camp friendships. No matter how deep it goes, as soon as camp (or your movie) ends, the friendship ends, too. I had gotten to know a few other famous people, so I should’ve seen this coming, but it was surprising how vulnerable I felt, how close this felt to romantic rejection.
I had been fame-ghosted.
That feeling of vulnerability made me want to write a story about a romantic encounter with a famous actor. I wrote the title “Famous Actor” in my journal, and for weeks that’s all I had. I began inventing a very different famous actor than the one I had known. I happened to be in Bend, Oregon, for a reading and when I walked by a house party, I pictured this young Famous Actor bounding up the steps and grabbing a beer. Generally, I can tell if a story is going to work if I’m having fun writing it. It was so fun creating his filmography and imagining the Disney Channel TV show—The Terrific Todd Chronicles!—that launches his career.
As usual, the story went somewhere I never expected when the woman he met at the party turned out to be so interesting. It’s her story in the end, this acerbic, complex, haunted woman who manages to find some humanity in the Famous Actor, while revealing herself as the greatest barista/film critic of all time.
Other Distinguished Stories of 2016
ADEOLA, GBOLAHAN
The Neighbor Woman Who Knew Things. Southern Review, vol. 52, no. 4.
AHMED, AZAM
The Ferryman. Granta, no. 134.
AUSUBEL, RAMONA
Club Zeus. Tin House, vol. 17, no. 3.
BEACH, BRETT
Conceptual Art. Prairie Schooner, vol. 90, no. 3.
BERGEN, DAVID
April in Snow Lake. Prairie Fire, vol. 37, no. 2.
BLACK, ALETHEA
How to Lose Everything in Twelve Easy Steps. Narrative Magazine, Winter.
BOOKER, BRIAN
Brace for Impact. StoryQuarterly, no. 49.
BOSWELL, ROBERT
O. The Atlantic, October.
BYNUM, SARAH SHUN-LIEN
The Burglar. The New Yorker, April 11.
CARLSON, RON
Dark Desert Highway. Five Points, vol. 17, no. 2.
CARSON, ANNE
Back the Way You Went. The New Yorker, October 31.
CHOATE, HUNTER
Mirror Box. The Pinch, vol. 36, no. 1.
CLARK, GEORGE MAKANA
Base Life. Granta, no. 134.
CONELL, LEE
The Lock Factory. Chicago Tribune, Printers Row.
CONKLIN, LYDIA
The Black Winter of New England. Gettysburg Review, vol. 29, no. 3.
COOVER, ROBERT
The Hanging of the Schoolmarm. The New Yorker, November 28.
CRONE, MOIRA
Pecos Bill. Image, no. 89.
DEAGLER, MICHAEL
Trinities. Slice, no. 18.
DINH, VIET
Lucky Dragon. Ploughshares, vol. 42, no. 2.
DORFMAN, ARIEL
Amboise. ZYZZYVA, no. 106.
DRISCOLL, JACK
On This Day You Are All Your Ages. Georgia Review, vol. LXX, no. 4.
FARHADI, AFSHEEN
On the Faces of Others. Colorado Review, vol. 43, no. 2.
FERRIS, JOSHUA
The Abandonment. The New Yorker, August 1.
FISHER, JAMIE
Peonies. Subtropics, no. 20/21.
FLANERY, PATRICK
Interior: Monkeyboy. Granta, no. 136.
FRANK, JOAN
Biting the Moon. Ploughshares Solos Omnibus, vol. 4.
FREEMAN, CASTLE, JR.
The Rod. Alaska Quarterly Review, vol. 33, no. 1 & 2.
FULTON, JOHN
Cold Wars. Epoch, vol. 65, no. 2.
GABEL, AJA
Necessary Animals. Glimmer Train
, no. 95.
GAIGE, AMITY
Hollow Object. Ploughshares, vol. 42, no. 2.
GROFF, LAUREN
Flower Hunters. The New Yorker, November 21.
HAIGH, JENNIFER
In Spite of Everything. Five Points, vol. 17, no. 2.
HAMID, MOHSIN
Of Windows and Doors. The New Yorker, November 14.
HENDERSON, SMITH
The Trouble. American Short Fiction, vol. 19, no. 62.
HERMAN, MICHELLE
All of Us. Conjunctions, no. 66.
HORROCKS, CAITLIN
Paradise Lodge. American Short Fiction, vol. 19, no. 61.
The City on the Other Coast. Indiana Review, vol. 38, no. 1.
HOUCK, GABRIEL
The Dot Matrix. Cimarron Review, no. 196.
HUA, VANESSA
Uncle, Eat. Los Angeles Review of Books, Summer.
Dixon. Virginia Quarterly Review, vol. 92, no. 3.
JUSKA, ELISE
The English Teacher. Prairie Schooner, vol. 90, no. 1.
KIM, CRYSTAL HANA
Solee. Southern Review, vol. 52, no. 1.
KNOLL, KATIE
IED. Ploughshares, vol. 42, no. 4.
KOEKKOEK, TAYLOR
Emergency Maneuvers. Ploughshares, vol. 42, no. 1.
LERNER, BEN
The Polish Rider. The New Yorker, June 6 & 13.
LOREDO, LUCAS
We the Grandchildren. Washington Square Review, no. 37.
LUCHETTE, CLAIRE
Full. Glimmer Train, no. 95.
MAJKA, SARA
Four Hills. American Short Fiction, vol. 19, no. 61.
MAKKAI, REBECCA
Zamboni. Tin House, vol. 18, no. 2.
MALISZEWSKI, PAUL
Good Night. Hopkins Review, vol. 9, no. 3.
MASON, DANIEL
The Line Agent Pascal. Zoetrope, vol. 19, no. 4.
MCCRACKEN, ELIZABETH
Mistress Mickle All at Sea. Zoetrope, vol. 19, no. 4.
MCDERMOTT, ALICE
Home. Harper’s Magazine, September.
MCKNIGHT, REGINALD
Float. Georgia Review, vol. LXX, no. 1.
MILLER, GARY LEE
The Salted Leg. Missouri Review, vol. 38, no. 4.
MITRA, KEYA
My Child of Stone. Bennington Review, no. 2.
MOGELSON, LUKE
Kids. Hudson Review, vol. LXVIII, no. 4.
Total Solar. The New Yorker, February 29.
MOSHFEGH, OTTESSA
An Honest Woman. The New Yorker, October 24.
MUñOZ, MANUEL
La Pura Verdad. Territory.
The Reason Is Because. American Short Fiction, vol. 19, no. 61.
MURPHY, YANNICK
Forty Words. Zoetrope, vol. 20, no. 2.
NGUYEN, VIET THANH
The Committed. Ploughshares, vol. 42, no. 2.
OATES, JOYCE CAROL
The Quiet Car. Harper’s Magazine, October.
OBEJAS, ACHY
The Maldives. Prairie Schooner, vol. 90, no. 1.
OSTLUND, LORI
A Little Customer Service. ZYZZYVA, no. 107.
PALACIO, DEREK
Preparations for the Body. Witness, vol. XXIX, no. 1.
PANDEY, SWATI
Youth. Electric Literature, no. 240.
PARK, YOUMI
Friends. Subtropics, no. 20/21.
PIERCE, THOMAS
The Immortal Milkshake. Zoetrope, vol. 20, no. 3.
Two Bananas. Subtropics, no. 20/21.
POOLE, NATHAN
Exit Wound. Kenyon Review, vol. XXXVIII, no. 6.
PUCHNER, ERIC
Trojan Whores Hate You Back. Tin House, vol. 17, no. 4.
RUBIO, MARYTZA K.
Tunnels. The Normal School, vol. 9, no. 1.
RUFFIN, MAURICE CARLOS
The Children of New Orleans. AGNI, no. 83.
RUSSELL, KAREN
The Bog Girl. The New Yorker, June 20.
SACHS, ADAM EHRLICH
The Philosophers. The New Yorker, February 1.
SAUNDERS, GEORGE
Mother’s Day. The New Yorker, February 8 & 15.
SCHIFF, REBECCA
Longviewers. n+1, no. 25.
The Lucky Lady. Washington Square Review, no. 37.
SCHULMAN, HELEN
In a Better Place. Ploughshares, vol. 42, no. 1.
SHARMA, AKHIL
A Life of Adventure and Delight. The New Yorker, May 16.
SHEPARD, JIM
Positive Train Control. Tin House, vol. 18, no. 2.
SITTENFELD, CURTIS
The Nominee. Esquire, May 2016.
SMITH, RYAN RUFF
The Disturbance. Ploughshares, vol. 41, no. 4.
SNEED, CHRISTINE
Older Sister. New England Review, vol. 37, no. 1.
SWAMY, SHRUTI
Night Garden. Prairie Schooner, vol. 90, no. 1.
THORMAN, CAROLYN
Kickback. Bellevue Literary Review, vol. 16, no. 2.
TORDAY, DANIEL
Nate Gertzman Draws the Internet. Tin House, vol. 17, no. 3.
TOWER, WELLS
The Postcard. Tin House, vol. 18, no. 1.
VALLIANATOS, CORINNA
Visitation. Kenyon Review, vol. XXVIII, no. 2.
VAN DER VLIET OLOOMI, AZAREEN
Pluto. Los Angeles Review of Books, Summer.
WALTER, JESS
Drafting. Mississippi Review, vol. 43, no. 3.
WILLENS, MALERIE
Body Electric. Tin House, vol. 17, no. 4.
YEUN, CHE
Keepers. Virginia Quarterly Review, vol. 92, no. 3.
YOON, PAUL
Galicia. Virginia Quarterly Review, vol. 92, no. 4.
Vladivostok Station. Harper’s Magazine, July.
YU, CHARLES
Fable. The New Yorker, May 30.
Subtext. Wired, January 2017.
ZENCKA, JASON
Catacombs. One Story, no. 216.
American and Canadian Magazines Publishing Short Stories
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Bomb
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Boston Review
Boulevard
Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers
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BuzzFeed
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Chautauqua
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Chicago Quarterly Review
Chicago Tribune, Printers Row
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Cincinnati Review
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December
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