Email Author Karen Zuercher

2006 Stories by Karen Zuercher

• Get Cracking

  published December 27, 2006

  Maybe it's the time of the year, or maybe it's my age or stage of life, but an existential fear of not mattering has taken hold of my insides.... More >>

• Larger Than Life

  published November 29, 2006

  I heard about the sperm book from an artist friend, and I had to see it. "It's at Moe's," he told me, referring to the used bookstore in Berkeley... More >>

• Game Play

  published November 22, 2006

  If you don't play a lot of videogames — that is, if you have a life — it's hard to understand why anyone would wait in line for days to... More >>

• Family Values

  published November 8, 2006

  Though some gluttons for punishment might have spent this past Saturday studying their 300-lb. voter information guide, about 250 parents instead... More >>

• Win Some, Lose Some

  published October 25, 2006

  It's never clearer how movies and books exist in alternate universes than during the fall awards season. In the cinematic world, the last few... More >>

• Stand Up, Comics

  published September 27, 2006

  I'm glad to be female when I say that comic books have never been part of my reading list. Because if I were a guy, I'd pretty much have to admit... More >>

• X and Why

  published August 30, 2006

  When Mary Austin's boyfriend proposed to her, he letterpress-printed his question on a papyrus card. She didn't answer him right away; in fact,... More >>

• Hopelessly Devoted

  published August 2, 2006

  We all have dirty little secrets. Here's one of mine: I know every word to every song on Xanadu by Olivia Newton-John. You might think it... More >>

• Where To?

  published July 26, 2006

  Let's play a game. Close your eyes and picture the house you lived in when you were 5. In your mind, walk through the rooms, paying special... More >>

• Blah-ging

  published July 19, 2006

  During my vast stretches of free time — between working full time, raising a 1-year-old, keeping my family in clean clothes, and remaining... More >>

• Picture This

  published June 28, 2006

  You may have heard of Pablo Picasso. He was a painter and sculptor, I understand, and the co-founder of cubism. He was also, many people don't... More >>

• Sistah Kamala

  published June 14, 2006

  Have you ever been so embarrassed for somebody that you felt it in your gut? I felt that way last Wednesday night as I watched our high-profile... More >>

• Not-So-Fun Run

  published May 31, 2006

  Bay to Breakers is always crazy, and what do you expect from a huge crowd of people getting drunk, taking off their clothes (or most of them, in... More >>

• Bookstore Love

  published May 31, 2006

  My first instinct when I read the news about A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books going up for sale — followed closely by the news that... More >>

• The Condescension Club

  published April 26, 2006

  My sister was the first one to identify me as a book snob. I've always read a lot of contemporary fiction — whatever's new in paperback,... More >>

• Secret Fiction

  published March 29, 2006

  It didn't start off promising, but by evening's end it was worth the trip. On my way in to dinner, the rain was pissing down (doesn't it ever just... More >>

• Speechless

  published February 22, 2006

  We start our lives looking at books with no words. Before we can read, at just a few months old, we like the feel of a book in our hands (or our... More >>

• Political Affairs

  published January 25, 2006

  The bar was packed on a Monday night for the reading in support of a Texas Congressional candidate. How many words in the previous sentence... More >>