On "I Am Going to Cook a Quiche in My Easy-Bake Oven And You Are Going to Like It" by Roxane Gay (557 words) *****

This short piece is deceptive and fun. It works that deception by providing us a list of details that lead us in one direction while also leading us in another--and that's also what makes the piece fun, and funny. This is also a story told in the future tense, which is something one doesn't see often (in fact, I don't think I'd ever seen it until I wrote such a story myself a few years ago). Here, that future tense is effective because it is also a mood: "will" is "willing," a set of commands. And that adds to the humor as well--these commands, merged with the aura of romance. The childlike and the romantic, the dictatorial and the loving, all blended into one in one fantastic little spiced pie you can read here at McSweeney's Internet Tendency.