BASS 2026: Nathan Blum, “Here Now” from Ploughshares #163

In the end, I am far less compelled by the notions I set out to explore than by those elements of a story that seemed to have sprung up on their own. I believe that farmers and gardeners call them “volunteers.” I have come to rely on them, and to fear the day they cease to emerge. In the case of “Here Now,” what began as a story about a tumultuous period in early twentieth-century Hudson Valley history – the forced displacement of entire villages to make way for the flooding of what is now the vital Ashokan Reservoir – somehow became a story about two high school kids, Oren and Imogene, meeting in a nearby town, a century ahead. Nathan Blum, Contributor Note, Best American Short Stories 2026 In terms of the action of the story, it’s quite straightforward: a first-time romance for two high-school kids. But the story goes deeper than that, thematically and stylistically. The theme of rootlessness comes up again and again, in surprising ways; and, in contrast to that, there’s an echo…