James Salter

James Salter, a five-time winner of the O. Henry Prize, is an American novelist, memoirist, and short-story writer. He was born in New York City, in 1925, and served for twelve years as a U.S. Army Air Force pilot in the Pacific, Europe, and Korea. Salter is the author of five novels, The Hunters (1957), The Arm of Flesh (1961), A Sport and a Pastime (1967), Light Years (1975), and Solo Faces (1979); two memoirs, Burning the Days (1997) and Gods of Tin (2004); and the collections Dusk and Other Stories, which won the 1989 PEN/Faulkner Award, and Last Night (2005). He divides his time between Aspen, Colorado, and Bridgehampton, Long Island.

Fiction – Issue 10

Akhnilo

It was late August. In the harbor the boats lay still, not the slightest stirring of their masts, not the softest clink of a sheave. The restaurants had long since closed. An occasional car, headlights glaring, came over the bridge…