The Gray
Self-proclaimed short story month , post number 7. The first story mentioned in Short Story Month , the book that more or less set this frenzied project off , was Aaron Gwyn’s “The Gray.” When I found it online, I was quickly lured away by the Esquire Fiction Contest , which closed a few days ago. It was interestingly pitched: you could pick one of three titles they offered and write away (up to 4,000 words). It was handsomely prized. So I was starting to get really motivated about putting something appropriate together and sending it on time, but, of course, there it was in the fine print: void in Puerto Rico. For some reason. Alas. So today I came back to Aaron Gwyn’s story “The Gray,” published in Esquire . You can read it here . It was recommended by the editors of the literary journal Hobart (which pulls off an interesting combination of print and online material). “The Gray” is about a bar fight and its aftermath. When I began reading, the story was off to a chop...