There's a mirror on the back of her bedroom door. That night, as she considered her options, she stood in front of the mirror sucking her stomach in, tracing her rib cage with her fingers. "I am a fine piece of ass," she whispered. She looked at her long black hair, bone straight, cascading down her back, her strong chin always jutting forward, the dimple in her left cheek, the slender length of her neck. Madeline slid her hands over her breasts, slightly swollen with milk, then down the flat of her stomach. "I am a fine piece of ass," she repeated. She pressed the palm of her hand against the wall and hummed an étude and practiced the barrre routine from her childhood—demi-plié, elevé, tendu, rond de jambe.

--"We Do Not Speak of Graceful Things" by Roxane Gay

Storyglossia's "Music+Obsession" issue has just gone live, with work by Anne Valente, Tim Jones-Yelvington, Roxane Gay, and many others, including Y.G. Yen, whose "The Player" is his first published story, something I'm always happy to see. I've read three of the stories in the issue already tonight, and suggest you get reading yourself. As always, there's some great fiction to be read here.