I would never call this a coming of age story—it’s too unconventional—but “Rope” does capture, in a completely original way, the alluring mystery of adolescence. It’s sexual curiosity before sexuality. The scene the narrator and his sister imagine is at once prurient and their brother keeps a girl tied to a tree in the woods, but when he goes to see her, he only asks to hold her hand. - Halimah Marcus, Editor-in-Chief, Recommended Reading About the Joshua Harmon is the author of the short story collection History of Cold Seasons, the essay collection The Annotated Mixtape, the novel Quinnehtukqut, and the poetry collections Le Spleen de Poughkeepsie and Scape. He lives in western Massachusetts. About the Guest Dzanc Books is a non-profit independent literary press out of Ann Arbor, MI and New York, NY. Since it's founding in 2007, Dzanc has made it part of its mission to champion the short story by publishing collections from emerging writers, launching the careers of Laura van den Berg, Alissa Nutting, Kyle Minor, Roy Kesey amongst many others. About the Electric Literature is an independent publisher amplifying the power of storytelling through digital innovation. Electric Literature’s weekly fiction magazine, Recommended Reading, invites established authors, indie presses, and literary magazines to recommended great fiction. Once a month we feature our own recommendation of original, previously unpublished fiction.