Josie Mitchell

Li Qun sits with his arms crossed, frowning at the document on the desk in front of him. LI QUN So the meat goes straight onto the stones? ASIGEN That’s right. It’s sliced super thin, so when you put it on the hot stone – LI QUN And it’s cooked? ASIGEN Yes! The stone’s so hot, the meat’s done in minutes. A sprinkle of salt, a pinch of chilli powder. Delicious. LI QUN Is that sanitary? ASIGEN Way cleaner than a regular kitchen. Plus it’s super eco-friendly. Everything’s natural, from kitchen to table.

In this episode of the Granta Podcast, we speak to the novelist Brandon Taylor, author of Real Life (2020) and The Late Americans (2023), about naturalism, the future of fiction, and the connection between Émile Zola and The Sims. We also discuss Taylor’s short story ‘Stalin, Lenin, Robespierre’, which appeared in Granta 166: Generations. Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Early​ in Bryan Washington’s novel Family Meal, Cam, a young Black man, gets a notification on his phone while walking home from his bar job. A stranger has shared his location on a hook-up app; there’s no photograph of his face, just a dick pic, but Cam eventually finds him, sitting on a park bench in the dark. The guy asks if he has a condom, but Cam tells him not to worry. When the stranger asks if he’s sure, Cam snaps: ‘Are you a fucking doctor?’ They have sex and go their separate ways.