This is the author's voice, a podcast of new fiction from The New Yorker.

I'm Deborah Treesman, the New Yorker's fiction editor.

On our website and in the digital edition of the magazine, we present audio versions of the

stories that appear in The New Yorker,

read by their authors. Beginning later this month, you'll be able to listen to those stories here on our new podcast, The Author's Voice, New Fiction from The New Yorker. For this special

preview episode of the podcast, we've put together an anthology of recent readings. First,

you'll hear Michael Cunningham,

reading his updated fairy tale Little Man,

which appeared in the magazine's August 10th, 2015 issue.

Next will be Zadie Smith, reading her story,

Escape from New York,

which was published in the June 8th, 2015 issue.

And finally, Tom Hanks,

reading his fiction piece, Alan Bean

Plus 4, which appeared in the magazine in October of 2014. We'll be back later this month,

with a brand new fiction reading from that week's issue of The New Yorker. Enjoy the readings.

Little man.

What if you had a child?

If you had a child, your life would be about more than getting through the various

holiday rushes and wondering exactly how insane Mrs. Witters in accounts payable is going to be on any given day.

It would be about procuring tiny shoes and pull toys and dental checkups.

It would be about paying into a college fund.

...