Why We Need Terrifying Stories
Karen Brown on how reading puts us in control
Editor’s Note: Read Karen Brown’s new short story, “Needs.”
“Needs” is a new short story by Karen Brown. To mark the story’s publication in The Atlantic, Brown and Oliver Munday, the design director of the magazine, discussed the story over email. Their conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
Oliver Munday: Your story “Needs” takes place in a disquieting domestic setting in rural 1960s America. What drew you to that specific time and place?
The changes that the 1960s