Recent posts
Rumpus Articles
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Groomed By the Church: How The Clash Saved My Soul
I didn’t realize it at the time, but the irreverence of The Clash was like a double-dose vaccine of skepticism, inoculating my soul against far more infectious and dangerous forces that flew into our suburban homes on the wings of…
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The Rumpus Prize in Fiction, Honorable Mention: Josie Tolin
By now the night has cooled, and the dune grass rustles beneath the mills. The light clicks off on the back porch between Trent’s house and Greta’s.
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Your Body Is Everywhere
The first time I believed “I am in danger” was when I woke up in an ambulance to EMTs sliding cold scissors up my body.
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At My House, We Don’t Bleach
After my punishment, I dusted my knees, returned to my friends, and continued the crime of noise-making. To make up for lost time, I invented an over-exaggerated story of the drunk bus conductor and orange hawker who left their wares…
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Pizza with Anarchies: “Be Gay Do Crime”: Sixteen Stories of Queer Chaos
The title is a slogan that’s been floating around a while: “Be gay. Do crime.” Or, “crimes,” plural, if you go from the graffiti credited with the slogan’s origin. It’s associated with anarchism.
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Traveling My Way Forward: Carrie R. Moore’s “Make Your Way Home”
This story made me think of a mystery that shrouds my patriarchal bloodline—a sort of family malediction passed down like a flawed hand of cards in a high-stakes poker game: a mind that plays tricks on you, daring you to…
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Unwriting the Great American Novel: Helen DeWitt’s “Your Name Here”
The myth of the PDF is this: it is an unpublishable novel, circulated online after DeWitt despaired of getting it out by conventional channels. When I talked to my old coworker, it seemed shrouded in mystery. He didn’t even refer…
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Breaking the Fourth Wall: A Conversation with A.A. Vacharat
The story also engages with the emotional tensions arising from the anticipated return of ’Wayne’s long-absent mother, as well as the intricacies of the relationship between ’Wayne and his sometimes overly present father. Both relationships are portrayed with nuance and…
