Readers of collapse-focused post-oil rural fiction (a growing genre – think the “World Made By Hand” novels of James Howard “Clusterfuck Nation” Kunstler) may have missed Jess Row’s short story from the New Yorker, published last November. Don’t. Entitled “The Empties,” it paints an eye-opening picture of a Vermont after the oil and electricity run out. Row is a fantastic writer, with an eye for nuance and a penchant for details. She also creates some memorable characters within this story. We are still haunted by it. Free Vermont, long live the Untied States!

And happy Vermont independence month this January.