Watchlist Countdown, Day 12: “The Transparency Project” by Alissa Nutting

     The Transparency Project was not a one-day test but a hired, permanent job that would last until her natural death. When the leader of the research team said the word “natural” in the phrase “natural death,” he emphasized it in a very unnatural way.

       from “The Transparency Project” by Alissa Nutting

“The Transparency Project” by Alissa Nutting (author of Tampa) is disturbing in a squicky way...but, like a roadside car wreck splashed with the strobe of red emergency lights, it’s nearly impossible to look away. I won’t say too much more about the story in the Watchlist anthology, but the photo I’ve posted above is a clue to what’s in store for you. You might want to read it on an empty stomach; because, you know, we wouldn’t want to see what you just ate.

Watchlist: 32 Short Stories by Persons of Interest, edited by Bryan Hurt, will be published by O/R Books on May 21.  The “persons of interest” contributing short stories to the anthology include Etgar Keret, Robert Coover, Aimee Bender, Jim Shepard, Alissa Nutting, Charles Yu, Cory Doctorow, David Abrams, Randa Jarrar, Katherine Karlin, Miracle Jones, Mark Irwin, T. Coraghessan Boyle, Dale Peck, Bonnie Nadzam, Lucy Corin, Chika Unigwe, Paul Di Filippo, Lincoln Michel, Dana Johnson, Mark Chiusano, Juan Pablo Villalobos, Chanelle Benz, Sean Bernard, Kelly Luce, Zhang Ran, Miles Klee, Carmen Maria Machado, Steven Hayward, Deji Bryce Olukotun, Alexis Landau and Bryan Hurt.

Pre-order your copy here