Three-time National Magazine Award-winning McSweeney's Quarterly returns with its 70th edition, a paperback with a special die-cut cover design with French flaps.

Inside you'll find brilliant fiction - and two essays - from places near and far, including Patrick Cottrell's story about a surprisingly indelible Denver bar experience; poignant, previously untranslated fiction from beloved Danish writer Tove Ditlevsen; Argentine writer Olivia Gallo's English language debut about rampaging urban clowns; the rise and fall of an unusual family of undocumented workers in rural California by Francisco Gonzalez; and Indian writer Amit Chaudhuri's sojourn to the childhood home of Brooklyn native Neil Diamond. Readers will be sure to delight in Guggenheim recipient Edward Gauvin's novella-length memoir-of-sorts in the form of contributors' notes, absorbing short stories about a celebrated pianist (Lisa Hsiao Chen) and a reclusive science-fiction novelist (Eugene Lim), flash fiction by Veronique Darwin and Kevin Hyde, and a suite of thirty-six very short stories by the outsider poet Sparrow. Plus letters from Seoul, Buenos Aires, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, and Lake Zurich, Illinois, by E. Tammy Kim, Drew Millard, and more.

Compiled by deputy editor James Yeh, McSweeney's Issue 70, like all editions of the quarterly, features the very best in new literary fiction, in a unique and beautifully designed format, that will occupy a cherished spot on your bookshelves for years to come.

'A key barometer of the literary climate.' -The New York Times

'An enduring literary presence.' - Chicago Tribune

'Ever shape-shifting and ambitious, McSweeney's has redefined what a literary institution can be. Their commitment to publishing strong, strange voices and stories from the periphery has always been an inspiration and I'm always excited to see what they'll do next.' - Catherine Lacey, McSweeney's contributor and author of Pew