The Gifts of the State, edited by Adam Klein
Graduate - MFA Creative Writing at The New School
Dzanc Books, 2013
The Gifts of the State and Other Stories: New Writing from Afghanistan radically reshapes our idea of Afghanistan as a place of unquestioning religiosity, brutal sexism, and anti-American and Russian resistance. Rather, employing stark naturalism and surrealistic and genre elements, these writers bravely depict Western-styled women in former Russian apartments and men obsessed with fantasies based on Mickey Spillane novels.