Short Story Masters by Mimi Lok - Fable

About the Folio

A great short story is like a great song—it has the power to be an instant mood changer. My favorite story collections offer three things. One, the distinct pleasure of being immersed in multiple perspectives. Two, thoughtfully curated transitions: the lingering mood of one story affecting entry into the next. And three, the overall sense of discovery and progression—from the opener that sets the tone to a closer that resonates through the rest of the book, leaving you with an irrevocably altered set of eyes.

Book selections

Lot

Bryan Washington

EXPLORE NEXT FOLIO

LeVar Burton curates

The Power of Storytelling

The iconic actor (and reader) LeVar Burton shares the powerful books he considers must-reads.

Katherine May curates

Winter Reading

Katherine May, the author of “Wintering” shares books to help you through the winters of your life.

Paulo Coelho curates

The Quest for Purpose

Paulo Coelho shares books that can help you find meaning in your life’s journey.

Carol Fulp curates

Success Through Diversity

Carol Fulp shares three books that demonstrate how leaders can harness diversity and inclusion for greater success.

Malinda Lo curates

Malinda Lo’s Reading List

National Book Award winner Malinda Lo shares three books that inspired her book “Last Night at the Telegraph Club.”

Adam Grant curates

Creativity in Crisis

Adam Grant shares the books that help him tap creative resilience in challenging times.

Sean Astin curates

A Journey of Adventure

The actor Sean Astin shares his favorite stories of self discovery, from underdogs to adventurers.

Lot

By Bryan Washington

Selected by Mimi LokWashington is a brilliant world builder. Through these thirteen stories, all set in Houston, all pulsing with wit, vibrancy, and cinematic vividness, he takes the reader through myriad neighborhoods and the inner lives of its working-class inhabitants who “live and thrive and die.” Characters return throughout the collection–among them, hustlers, hurricane survivors, sex workers—and are rendered in all their complex humanity. But the book’s anchor is the young man we meet at the start of the book, and again over the course of several stories. The nameless protagonist wrestles with his identity as someone “too dark for the blancos, too Latin for the blacks,” and as a gay man, trying to hide his sexuality from his broken family. Through his, and the other characters’ stories, the city comes to life with vivid urgency and emotion.

Mimi Lok

Author

Short Story Masters

Curated by Mimi Lok