Our new issue, “Running Alone” by Halimah Marcus, connects the physical and spiritual lives of three family members: Albert, Irene, and Hunter. It’s difficult to pull off three different points of view in one short story, but Halimah Marcus handles it with great skill, the same way her character Hunter outpaces the competition in the middle-distance races that consume his life.  Hunter is a talented teenager, with a remarkable ability to focus and lose himself in the physical act of running. Coached by his father Albert—a high school teacher who finds his peace in mathematical formulas—Hunter puts all of his energy toward the upcoming National Championships, until an unexpected illness rears its head, and Hunter must learn to push beyond his physical strength to become mentally tough as well. His mother Irene, meanwhile, has her own rough path to tread, and yet seems to find a way to tether this high-flying father and son back to the earth. By weaving together the inner lives of this family, “Running Alone” captures how we all strive to remain connected to one another, even as our individual obsessions threaten to consume us. Be sure to check out the author Q&A to hear about the research Halimah did for this story, as well as her feelings about calculus, Steve Prefontaine’s hair, and her own experience as a runner.

Our new issue, “The Zen Thing,” is the debut publication of Emma Duffy-Comparone. OS edtior Will Allison will handle the introductions.  I’ll just stand here at my desk and applaud. -HT

As any story writer knows, getting your first story published is tough. I know from experience: back in the dark ages, before the Internet got huge, it took me seven years of sending out stories before one was accepted.

Today, given the breadth of online publishing opportunities, I imagine things are a bit easier for first-time authors. On the flip side, the Internet has made it more difficult for print magazines like One Story to “discover” new writers: by the time most writers send us a story we fall in love with, they’ve already notched a few publications elsewhere, often online.

Introducing our readers to brand-new voices remains the single most exciting thing we do here at One Story. That’s why we are particularly pleased to present in our latest issue “The Zen Thing,” a debut story by enormously talented newcomer Emma Duffy-Comparone. If you’ve ever been party to an awkward family get-together, you’ll relate to the hilarity—and horror—of Emma’s multi-generational beach vacation gone awry. (To read more about the story, please see our interview with the author.)

I hope those of you yet-to-be-published writers will take heed: please keep writing, don’t let rejections get you down, and know that nothing would make us happier than to someday showcase your first published work in the pages of One Story.

Our new issue, “Break Me In and Out” by Kindall Gray,  won us over with its plucky heroine Toby, her fascinating neighbor and friend Edilio, and wild and beautiful descriptions of monitor lizards and border-crossings. It was discovered and curated by One Story editor Karen Friedman, so I am turning the introductions over to her. I hope the setting of Phoenix, AZ will keep everyone warm in these cold winter days.-HT

I live in a small town with a large immigrant population – which is to say, a large Hispanic immigrant population. Our public elementary school has a majority of ESL learners and simultaneous translation devices for parents attending school events. We have two Mexican markets, but when I want them, I can get fresh tomatillos and plantains at my usual grocery store. Diversity is one of those nice, liberal ideas that I grew up embracing and one of many reasons my husband and I chose to move to our town. However, when I’m honest, I have to admit that I don’t actually know any of my immigrant neighbors. They live quite literally on the other side of the railroad tracks that bisect my town. As a white Anglo-American, it is easy not to see what I don’t want to and to pretend immigration is an amorphous blob of political interests. It is easy to talk about exploitation of the day laborers who stand outside our 7-11 hoping for a job or who live in a single-family home with three other families, without any real idea of what those things mean.

The first time I read Kindall Gray’s “Break Me In and Out” I was taken in by the simple humanity of her story. It’s not so much a story about immigration, but rather about life on the margins and the way a person learns to navigate such a life. With subtlety and compassion, Gray takes us behind the politics to show a relationship between an illegal immigrant, Edilio, and his young neighbor, Toby. Edilio’s faith and empathy, the way he shares his food and stories with someone who is more vulnerable than he is, speak to a side of life rarely glimpsed by most of us. The legalities of how Edilio came to live next door to Toby matter so much less than what he leaves her with. For more on how Gray created these surprising and real characters, check out our author Q&A.

Excerpts rarely work as stand alone pieces, but our new issue, “The Soul Keeps the Body Up,” feels complete all on its own. A part of Amity Gaige’s novel, Schroder (just-released by Grand Central), this heartfelt father-daughter story will keep you on the edge of your seat. It was brought to us by contributing editor Will Allison, and so I will now place the introduction reins into his very capable hands. -HT

Is it possible to kidnap one’s own daughter and still be a good parent? The story in our current issue, Amity Gaige’s “The Soul Keeps the Body Up,” suggests the answer might not be as clear-cut as you’d think. The first time I read the story, I was struck by the sweetness and lightness of the rapport between the narrator, Eric, and his six-year-old daughter, Meadow. Their love for one another—their ability to click—shines through on every page, even as Eric gives in to his most reckless instincts, leading his father-in-law on a high-speed car chase with Meadow in the backseat. As Amity observes in our Q&A with the author, Eric treats Meadow more like a peer than a kid. Sometimes the results are touching, other times darkly comic. The good news is, if you love this story as much as we do, there’s more. “The Soul Keeps the Body Up” is an excerpt from Amity’s third novel, Schroder, which is due out in February, and which is receiving raves from the likes of Jennifer Egan, Jonathan Franzen (“The measure of Gaige’s great gift as a storyteller is that she persuades you to love a narrator who shouldn’t be lovable”), Adam Haslett (“You will not want to put this book down”), and David Bezmozgis (“Amity Gaige has written a flawless book”). Here at One Story, we rarely come across an excerpt we feel can stand on its own—and stand out—as a short story, but we hope you’ll agree this one is a gem.