Ed Falco On the Air

"Wild Girls" begins in a bar in the East Village, where a succesful middle-aged artist who earns a living as a mentor and teacher of young, aspiring artists, finds himself in the company of two young women, one a current and the other a former student of his. What starts as a playful, then provocative, and finally a reckless firtation, quickly turns into something more complicated.Send us Fan MailSupport the show

In Matthew Vollmer's short story "Oh Land of National Paradise, How Glorious Are They Bounties," the life of a young man working as a waiter in Yellowstone Park gets complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's girlfriend—and even more complicated when that best friend dies suddenly and tragically.Send us Fan MailSupport the show

In her short story "The Heart of Things," Kristina Gorcheva Newberry explores the fraught relationship between three women: a mother and her two adult daughters. Carmen, the younger daughter, has been living in the U.S. for 17 years, while her mother and Leezy, her sister, have remained at home in the Soviet Union. It's not easy to say what this story is about, though certainly it concerns the distance, both psychological and cultural, between the thoroughly Americanized and socially liberal Carmen, and her traditional and socially conservative Russian mother and sister. But as much as it's about their differences, it's also about their connection--and that, for me, is where the magic of the story resides. Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Ed Falco reading "Among the Tootalonians," a story that's set in 2001, in the anxious days and weeks after the 9-11 terrorist attack in New York. Val, the central character in the story, is living in Boise, Idaho, where his young wife has recently left him to pursue a relationship with a locally famous artist. Val, as he wil tell you, is not in a good place.Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Ed Falco begins Season 2 of Ed Falco on the Air by reading his short story, "Acid," the title story of his 1996 collection from The University of Notre Dame Press. The collection was published as winner of The Richard Sullivan Prize. "Acid" was originally published in TriQuarterly, and included in his new and selected stories, Sabbath Night in the Church of the Piranha, from Unbridled Books.Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Send us Fan MailSupport the show

In the previous Episode,  Severn went into Millersville, where he encountered what he came to believe was an alien species inhabiting the town. On his return to the farm, he told Tommy and Vi what he’d seen, and they packed up supplies and moved out of the house to camp atop a nearby hill, where they’d have a view of anyone approaching the farm. The plan was for all three of them to visit Millersville the following day, so that the kids could see what Severn had seen. That’s where we pick up Episode 8.Send us Fan MailSupport the show

In  Episode 6, at the conclusion of Part 1 of the novel, Severn and the kids—Tommy and Vi—awakened from their drugged sleep to find the storms had passed and that electrical devices, and cars, were working again. After driving to town and finding it reeking with the dead, they left for Severn’s father-in-law’s farm, a rural expanse with relatively few human inhabitants. In Part 2 of the novel, we pick up with Episode 7, after almost a full year has passed on the farm without another lurching.Send us Fan MailSupport the show

In  Episode 5, Severn and the kids—Tommy and Vi—awakened from a medicated sleep to find storms still raging. When they attempted to leave the house briefly, they were attacked by a pack of vicious dogs—and one gentle one, named Sterling, who made it safely back into the house with them. At the end of the episode, they’ve taken more of Sarah’s pills in an effort to sleep through the storms, and they all three have fallen into a drugged sleep. That’s where we pick up Episode 6Send us Fan MailSupport the show

At the end of Episode 4, Severn had given the kids, Tommy and Vi, powerful sleeping pills to knock them out for what appeared to be the beginning of another lurching. At the end of the episode, they were all sleeping. That's where we pick up Episode 5.Send us Fan MailSupport the show

At the end of  Episode 3, Severn and the kids—Tommy and Vi—had returned to his house with Sage and were getting ready to go into town, where they expected to meet other survivors. Before leaving, Severn asked Tommy to help him bury Sarah, Severn’s wife who died after the first lurching. That’s where we pick up in Episode 4. Send us Fan MailSupport the show

At the end of  Episode 2, Severn had just returned from town to find Vi and Sage alive, though battered. We left him as he entered the Epperson house and heard a glass break followed by a curse. As far as we—and Severn--knew, everyone in that house was dead. We pick up with Episode 3 as Severn goes to investigate what he heard.Send us Fan MailSupport the show

In Episode 1, Severn and Vi had just been attacked after starting for town. When we left them, they’re were both unconscious in the road as a storm hit. That’s were we pick up with Episode 2.Send us Fan MailSupport the show

To inhabit the planet, they had to eliminate the Earth’s indigenous human population. Trouble was, they missed a few.The story begins with a storm . . .Send us Fan MailSupport the show