Tag: Setting as Character

Hat Man Plays the Blues by Julian Riccobon

By Julian Riccobon | Fiction, Short Stories | January 9, 2026

You saw him once on the E train, during a moment of drowsiness. The Hat Man, or—as your abuela used to call him—El Silbón. It was 4 a.m. and you’d just finished your graveyard shift at the 24/7 pharmacy.…

Beyond Binary Thinking: Writing Cruelty Without Inflicting Harm

By Guest Author | Craft, Classroom, Critical Essays | November 29, 2023

Image is a color photograph of a red door propped up against a rock wall; title card for the new critical essay, "Beyond Binary Thinking: Writing Cruelty Without Inflicting Harm" by Claire Polders.

By Claire Polders • Kinship I’m married to an American, have visited the United States in the past two decades on at least two dozen occasions, and have spent time in seven different states, but the rural and rather…