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Work. We all have to do it (unless we’re royalty, or very rich). We all spend many waking hours at it. But how do we really feel about it? For some people—footballers, writers, artists—work is also a kind of play, but that doesn’t make it any easier, because when the rewards are high, so are the risks.
Work can be one of the most exciting and frightening parts of life, and this month’s stories, in their very different ways, explore the mundane as well as the extraordinary aspects of work—you might interview for these positions, but you certainly wouldn’t want the job. We’ve selected the best nine-to-five fiction for this issue, from J. D. Petersen’s subtle and disturbing guarded-missile story “Home on the Range” to David Whelan’s nihilistic office fantasy “Horns“.
Speaking of work, it’s been a real pleasure and challenge editing Litro for the last (nearly) two years, but now that I’ve been lucky enough to have Penguin publish my first novel, The Whores’ Asylum, it’s back to work for me—writing rather than editing for a change. I’m delighted, however, to be handing over to new editors Mohsen Shah and Alex Goodwin, who I know will work their socks off to make Litro better than ever.
Katy Darby
Outgoing editor of Litro Magazine
May 2012
About Katy Darby
A short-story writer and novelist, Katy was Editor of Litro Magazine from 2010 to June 2012, and is currently Online Short Fiction Editor. Katy studied English at Oxford University and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich, where she received the David Higham Award. Her work has won several prizes, been read on BBC Radio, and appeared in various magazines and anthologies including Stand, Mslexia, London Magazine and the Fish & Arvon anthologies. Her first novel, originally titled The Whores' Asylum (Feb 2012), is The Unpierced Heart (Sep 2012), published by Penguin. Besides writing, she teaches Short Story Writing, Novel Writing, and a writers' workshop at City University. She also co-founded and currently runs the monthly live fiction reading event Liars' League.
