“There may be beauty in my blackness and dignity in the struggle of my people, but I won’t allow my son to live a life of diminished possibility. I see a constellation of opportunity that those of my ilk rarely…

“It was only as we began to wind slowly down the drive, while I kept one eye out for a fleeting child among the trees, that I found myself replaying Maddie’s final remark, wondering if she had really said what…

While Lois’ story inspires readers to try something new in their lives, it also makes it clear that no journey will ever be like hers. Robin Sloan’s writing has improved so much since Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. I was impressed…

when the space program kicks into gear after the meteorite disaster, the program’s leaders assume that only men can be astronauts. Elma York challenges this assumption, determined to become the first “lady astronaut” Imagine if a meteorite were to destroy…

“What do you want?” I demanded. “A moment of peace and quiet,” he snapped, rubbing his temples.

‘Do you think I’m a whore?’ Harry pulled over to the side of the road and turned to me. ‘I think you’re brilliant. I think you’re tough. And I think the word whore is something ignorant people throw around when…

“There are plenty of things that a teenage boy doesn’t tell his mother. As we get older, there are more and more things we hold back, things too hard to say or too embarrassing to explain. We do this to…