Stories We Love: “The Summer People,” by Shirley Jackson
by Jacob M. Appel
“Soon matters take an even darker turn.” Jacob M. Appel on Shirley Jackson’s most unsettling short story.
Jacob M. Appel is the author of the novels The Man Who Wouldn’t Stand Up (2012) and The Biology of Luck (2013) and the short story collection Scouting for the Reaper (2014). His essay collection, Phoning Home, will be published by the University of South Carolina Press this month. More at: www.jacobmappel.com.
“Soon matters take an even darker turn.” Jacob M. Appel on Shirley Jackson’s most unsettling short story.
“By peppering his prose with subtle, sinister details,” Jacob M. Appel argues in this craft essay, “Chaon manages to create a subtext of tension that supports the weight of the story’s content.”
“By peppering his prose with subtle, sinister details,” Jacob M. Appel argues in this craft essay, “Chaon manages to create a subtext of tension that supports the weight of the story’s content.”
By astutely balancing the physical with the psychological, Elizabeth Graver manages to produce what Jacob M. Appel calls “four-dimensional stories.”