Hi, I'm Lovar Burton and this is Lovar Burton Reads.

In every episode I hand pick a different piece of short fiction and I read it to you.

And the only thing these stories have in common is that I love them and I hope you will

too.

Our story today is from the writer Laura Chow Rief and it's called 1,000 year old

Ghosts.

Now Laura is a Robert J. Dowish short story prize winner and this particular story is

part of the new short fiction anthology called Pinn America Best debut short stories 2017.

Laura Chow Rief is a relatively new author which makes this story all the more impressive.

Primarily it's a story about memories, about remembering and forgetting.

She bridges the physical world with the world of the intangible quite a bit in this story

and if you've ever thought about how we keep memories and feelings alive or how we

forget them, this story has a very fascinating way of looking at that.

Another thing I think this story brings up is the idea of traditions, both familial and

cultural and deciding whether certain traditions are helpful or harmful is something that

has used for one person, actually universally good for everyone.

And finally, just something to listen out for, the story is told in the first person

from the point of view of a young woman but is interspersed with the memories of her Chinese

grandmother whom she calls Popo.

And I think that's all I'll give you for now.

Okay.

If you're ready, let's take a deep breath.

...