A while back, Jeff Bryant asked me who I consider to be an underrated writer for a list he was compiling over at Syntax of Things. Alas, I am slow as molasses, so I sent my response in too late, but here’s what I would’ve said, had I been more timely: Not exactly underrated, here is a writer who has been– lately –underread: Mary Robison is a short story writer whose gift for the quick sentence and dead-on characterization is astounding. In some ways, Robison strikes me as a sort of literary equivalent to Lucinda Williams. She’s been a...


