“Theory/Practice” by Adam Mansbach

At the risk of coming off like a complete fucking asshole as usual, I would like to use this space to address a common misconception about parenthood . . .

“Dinner at Omar’s” by Robert Arellano

Ashland, deep summer. It’s the one month the sun sets over steep Lithia Park only one hour earlier than everywhere else in Oregon, but at the jagged edge of town the hulking green shadows still pile up like a forest clear-cut. It’s the lull after Big Al’s Tennis Tournament, and it’s still a long haul ‘til Labor Day . . .

Review: The Dead Run by Adam Mansbach

Akashic intern Lisa Martens reviews The Dead Run by Adam Mansbach (Harper Voyager).

“Like Unlike” by Kristen Valentine

You haven’t seen her in over a year, not since that Labor Day weekend you took her up to your family’s lake house and she got so pissed at you for shooting up right away. “Danny, I was serious,” she said, like you were supposed to know that. But how the hell could you tell she was serious this time when she’d never been serious before . . . ?

Bernice L. McFadden’s Gathering of Waters a Finalist for 2013 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award!

Bernice McFadden’s novel Gathering of Waters was named a finalist for the 2013 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award!

Simon’s Cat in Good Company: Melville, Battlefields & Beyond Military History Book Shoppe (Pennsylvania)

To celebrate the release of Simon’s Cat vs. the World, Akashic is featuring some of our favorite bookstore and library cats. Today, meet Melville, Arm & Hammer’s October Pet of the Month and local celebricat from the Battlefields & Beyond Military History Book Shoppe in Gettysburg, PA!

Johnny Temple interviews Brenda Greene, Executive Director of the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York

Johnny Temple interviews Dr. Brenda M. Greene, professor of English and Executive Director of the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York.

“Burnt Ground” by Thomas Mitchell

—Why’d you come? she said.
—The boys were busy, I guess.

I looked around. Her Nana’s house was just how I remembered: another old villa that desperately needed a coat of paint. I tried not to look at her. I could remember how good Tala looked, dressed and undressed . . .