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Vanessa Chan

Vanessa Chan is the debut author of two books, a novel and a story collection, both forthcoming from Marysue Rucci Books/Scribner. Her other work has been published in Electric Lit, Kenyon Review, Conjunctions, and more. Her writing has received support from the Sewanee, Bread Loaf, and Tin House writers’ conferences.

Fiction  – 
Sun filtering through blinds onto a bed

Symbiosis

In demanding a new dog, I broke my mother’s cardinal rule, which was to be content with everything I had. She told me that I was lucky, that other children from broken homes grow up with absent parents, or get sent to orphanages, or become juvenile delinquents, she yelled. She told me to accept my lot in life, and I tried, I really did, but I could not stop the gurgle of longing from rising in my throat. It shocked me sometimes, the strength and physicality of my desire.