Ms. Williams’s stories might be short but that is sleight of hand; they demand focus. “I don’t like to have it all wrapped up,” she said. “Hardly anything that matters in life is that easy.” Credit Molly Matalon for The New York Times.

There was a time I literally screamed in my own dining room, about something that didn’t warrant such a scream… It was so — to use a word I use a lot in my first book — *inappropriate*. There were some things, some anger or passion that was beyond my understanding and had been tamped down for too long.

“Rumaan Alam, Diane Williams, A Master of the Very Short Story, Has a Very Big New Book,” NYTimes, 10-2-18)

(c) 2018 JMN.