Host Jo Reed talks with contributor Kendra Winchester about three inventive story collections that reveal just how expansive audiobook storytelling can be. They begin with Fat Swim by Emma Copley Eisenberg, performed by a seven-person cast including Marin Ireland and Samantha Desz, where stories centered on fatness, vulnerability, and community take on added intimacy through distinct narrative voices. Then they discuss My Dear You by Rachel Khong, narrated by Xiaoling Pan, Rachel Khong, Zhen Zhao, and Annie Q. Riegel, a wildly imaginative collection that moves effortlessly between speculative fiction, satire, emotional realism, and the uncanny. Finally, they turn to Seasons of Glass and Iron by Amal El-Mohtar, with narrator Rachel Elizabeth Smith bringing warmth, precision, and quiet intensity to stories filled with fairy tales, scholarship, women’s lives, and acts of self-rescue. Together, these audiobooks demonstrate how short fiction thrives in audio—each narrator shaping tone, atmosphere, and emotional texture in ways that make every story feel immediate and distinct.

Audio Books Discussed:

Fat Swim by Emma Copley Eisenberg, read by Kristen DiMercurio, MW Cartozian Wilson, Marin Ireland, Lindsey Dorcus, Chrysanthy Balis, Samantha Desz, and Kristen Sieh (Random House Audio)

My Dear You by Rachel Khong, read by Jialing Pan, Rachel Khong, Jen Zhao, and Annie Q. Riegel (Random House Audio)

Seasons of Glass and Iron by Amal El-Mohtar, read by Rachel Elizabeth Smith (Macmillan Audio)

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