A Balancing Act

A short story about two sex tourists and a taxi driver in Rio de Janeiro

Imagine it was 1925 and you could pay a small amount to read the manuscripts of [insert one of your favorite writers here]. For that fee you could access it before almost everyone else, critique it, talk to him about it. That’s pretty cool.

We can do that now. That’s why I’m adding a paywall to my fiction. I want to become one of your favorite writers who you’d be happy to patronize. The price is as low as Substack allows you to go: $5/month (half a burrito) or $30/year (two drinks in New York). That includes a copy of the magazine’s print edition, which we are releasing in September.

Still, I understand that not everyone can pay to read my writing. So all you have to do is DM or email me (anthonymarigold at proton dot me), and I’ll un-gate these posts for you. In return all I ask is that you support my work in another way:

• Leaving thoughtful criticism in the comments (or via email).

• Regularly sharing my work (notes, posts, etc).

• Buying me a coffee.

• Something else that makes sense for you.

Please do not feel bad about reaching out and requesting. These forms of support are fantastic.

One other note: I don’t like reading fiction on the app, or via email, so I’m attaching this story as a PDF. Ideally you’d print it out, but reading it in the Preview app works too.

Thank you all.