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Alternative Facts: Stories
"A bold and often eerie set of tales that skillfully explore life's what-if complexities."
—Kirkus Reviews
In this absurd and wildly inventive debut collection, Emily Greenberg imagines the inner lives of the politicians, celebrities, artists, and entertainers who have ushered in our post-truth era.
With equal parts compassion and incisiveness, Greenberg vividly renders the porous boundaries between fact and fiction, public and private, reality and simulation. George W. Bush almost tells Jay Leno the truth about his paintings. Kellyanne Conway lands a punch. Hawaii's governor enjoys a transcendent experience with a sentient Twitter bird amid a disastrous false missile alert. And in the final story, Paris Hilton falls from a helicopter onto Thomas Pynchon's fire escape, leading to a surreal adventure full of magical dentists, talking dogs, and unexpected friendships.
Satirical and deadly serious, clever and tender, Alternative Facts forges new spaces for meaning and connection across our fractured realities.
—Kirkus Reviews
In this absurd and wildly inventive debut collection, Emily Greenberg imagines the inner lives of the politicians, celebrities, artists, and entertainers who have ushered in our post-truth era.
With equal parts compassion and incisiveness, Greenberg vividly renders the porous boundaries between fact and fiction, public and private, reality and simulation. George W. Bush almost tells Jay Leno the truth about his paintings. Kellyanne Conway lands a punch. Hawaii's governor enjoys a transcendent experience with a sentient Twitter bird amid a disastrous false missile alert. And in the final story, Paris Hilton falls from a helicopter onto Thomas Pynchon's fire escape, leading to a surreal adventure full of magical dentists, talking dogs, and unexpected friendships.
Satirical and deadly serious, clever and tender, Alternative Facts forges new spaces for meaning and connection across our fractured realities.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
208 pages, Paperback
Published January 28, 2025
434 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 2, 2025
As works of fiction, the stories in ALTERNATIVE FACTS take us where no journalist could ever tread: deep into the psyches of notable figures–from B. F. Skinner to Paris Hilton–in ways that are, by turns, insightful, heartbreaking, and entertainingly absurd.
ALTERNATIVE FACTS begins with an eponymous, single-sentence story featuring the OG of alternative facts: Kellyanne Conway. This stylistically inventive tale takes us on a stream-of-consciousness road trip through Conway’s mind, in which she denies multiple personal and political realities–in keeping with her actual behavior during Trump’s first presidency.
Paradoxically, the story and its unrelenting stream of falsehoods capture a profoundly dangerous truth about this discourse, and about what it means for the direction of our country.
One of my favorite stories in the collection is “From the Eyes of Travelers,” which features an actual event: the 2016 assassination of Russia’s former ambassador to Turkey at a photography exhibition in Ankara, Turkey, where protests had been raging against Russia’s role in the Syrian Civil War and the battle over Aleppo. More specifically, the story captures the documentation of this assassination by photojournalist Burhand Ozbilici, also known as Oz, and the story is told from his point of view.
Leading up to this event and afterward, Oz confronts an uncomfortable question faced by many photojournalists who document violent or otherwise destructive events: Is there any place for my emotions, or for my desire to intervene, or am I first and foremost a photographer? The story delivers a complicated and authentic-feeling answer to this question.
The book concludes with a novella-length story, “The Author and the Heiress,” which imagines a mutually life-changing encounter between the famously reclusive novelist Thomas Pynchon and media personality Paris Hilton. The story offers a fun romp through Pynchon’s various fictional worlds, an adventure tale with the propulsiveness of a quest story, and a layered–and often humorous–exploration of what drives human beings to both crave fame and be put off by so many of its trappings. It’s likely that Pynchon fans will get a special kick out of this story, but you won’t have to have read Pynchon’s work to enjoy the ride.
You can read my full review of the novel here: https://smallpresspicks.com/alternati....
ALTERNATIVE FACTS begins with an eponymous, single-sentence story featuring the OG of alternative facts: Kellyanne Conway. This stylistically inventive tale takes us on a stream-of-consciousness road trip through Conway’s mind, in which she denies multiple personal and political realities–in keeping with her actual behavior during Trump’s first presidency.
Paradoxically, the story and its unrelenting stream of falsehoods capture a profoundly dangerous truth about this discourse, and about what it means for the direction of our country.
One of my favorite stories in the collection is “From the Eyes of Travelers,” which features an actual event: the 2016 assassination of Russia’s former ambassador to Turkey at a photography exhibition in Ankara, Turkey, where protests had been raging against Russia’s role in the Syrian Civil War and the battle over Aleppo. More specifically, the story captures the documentation of this assassination by photojournalist Burhand Ozbilici, also known as Oz, and the story is told from his point of view.
Leading up to this event and afterward, Oz confronts an uncomfortable question faced by many photojournalists who document violent or otherwise destructive events: Is there any place for my emotions, or for my desire to intervene, or am I first and foremost a photographer? The story delivers a complicated and authentic-feeling answer to this question.
The book concludes with a novella-length story, “The Author and the Heiress,” which imagines a mutually life-changing encounter between the famously reclusive novelist Thomas Pynchon and media personality Paris Hilton. The story offers a fun romp through Pynchon’s various fictional worlds, an adventure tale with the propulsiveness of a quest story, and a layered–and often humorous–exploration of what drives human beings to both crave fame and be put off by so many of its trappings. It’s likely that Pynchon fans will get a special kick out of this story, but you won’t have to have read Pynchon’s work to enjoy the ride.
You can read my full review of the novel here: https://smallpresspicks.com/alternati....
June 3, 2025
Run. Do not walk. Run to your favorite independent bookstore to buy ALTERNATIVE FACTS by Emily Greenberg. Each of the 7 short stories tackles fake news in a different way that stays with you. Facts and fiction are fascinatingly interwoven. You are charmed in the interstices of what happened and what can be imagined. Does Bush consider himself a painter? Does Kellyanne Conway believe the nonsense she spews? How DO photojournalists do intensely difficult jobs? In our times of post truth political discourse, the stories examine our use of language in a fresh and creative way. You'll love your thoughts when you read them.
June 4, 2025
Alternative Facts is a unique, creative and thought provoking book of stories that will keep you wondering where the fiction starts and ends (except perhaps the last story with Thomas Pynchon and Paris Hilton which is absurdly funny). Emily Greenberg is most certainly a talented and creative writer who has produced these 7 short stories that are each clever, insightful and so different her skill and ingenuity are impressive. I haven't read anything quite like it and after finishing it bought 6 more to share with friends and family who would also appreciate it.
June 2, 2025
Alternative Facts is a fascinating collection of short stories.Each of the 7 stories is wildly inventive and unique.Each succeeds in being beautifully written and meticulously researched without sacrificing any of the humanity of their topical subjects.
More than that,the stories gently lead you to explore and better understand the porous boundaries between fact and fiction.In a world with AI deep fakes and political fake news,this is a skill we all desperately need to polish.
More than that,the stories gently lead you to explore and better understand the porous boundaries between fact and fiction.In a world with AI deep fakes and political fake news,this is a skill we all desperately need to polish.
May 3, 2025
Not only is this an engaging, sharp, and beautifully crafted book of short stories, its' insights and idiosyncrasies explore many of the defining questions of our times. Alternative Facts is a fun and funny book; it's also a deeply moving one. Will be thinking about the characters and their real world analogues for a long time.
January 29, 2025
Do yourself a favor and get yourself this wicked collection of short stories that dares to ask "What if my fiction wasn't about myself, and my experiences, but rather those of some of the defining figures of our time?"
June 25, 2025
great compilation of stories. very interesting and pertinent to our time period.
July 22, 2025
Clever blend of satire and real world politics. Impressive new author- fresh, humorous, painful, brilliant- don’t miss this read.
February 1, 2026
Wonderful assortment. The first story is not among the stronger ones, so I'm glad I pushed on.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews