“The Deathblow: Sometimes I think about my life in two phases: Before I knew about the shadowy deathblow, and after I knew about the shadowy deathblow. I do not want to give away too much of this ingenious creation, but there is a spectacularly surprising sentence halfway through this story that involves the deathblow and a certain appendage. I still think about that sentence, whenever I believe I have written something smart and humorous. Is it as funny as that? I ask myself. Usually the answer is no.” Hannah Tinti, editor-in-chief of One Story, writes in the editor’s note of Recommended Reading that there are 5 reasons to read Patrick Somerville’s story “Trouble and the Shadowy Deathblow.” Read the other reasons (and the story) tomorrow morning at Recommended Reading.


“The Deathblow: Sometimes I think about my life in two phases: Before I knew about the shadowy deathblow, and after I knew about the shadowy deathblow. I do not want to give away too much of this ingenious creation, but there is a spectacularly surprising sentence halfway through this story that involves the deathblow and a certain appendage. I still think about that sentence, whenever I believe I have written something smart and humorous. Is it as funny as that? I ask myself. Usually the answer is no.”


Hannah Tinti, editor-in-chief of One Story, writes in the editor’s note of Recommended Reading that there are 5 reasons to read Patrick Somerville’s story “Trouble and the Shadowy Deathblow.” Read the other reasons (and the story) tomorrow morning at Recommended Reading.