This is The Writer's Voice, new fiction from The New Yorker.

I'm Debra Treesman, fiction editor at The New Yorker.

On this episode of The Writer's Voice, we'll hear Lara Vapnier,

reader's story, Siberian Wood, from the September 11, 2023 issue of the magazine.

Vapnier has published two short story collections and four novels,

including Still Here and Divide Me by Zero, which came out in 2019.

Now here's Lara Vapnier.

Siberian Wood

The thing about Horseradish vodka is that it makes you forget that you're drinking vodka.

With greenish color and with smell of hay,

green to mind the kind of herbal infusions you'd get at a spa.

And the taste is so sharp and bracing that it feels like an energy drink.

Yes, an energy drink.

You feel strong and vigorous as you down one shot after an hour.

You delight it with everyone, but most of all with yourself,

your witty, charming, quirky self.

And you believe that everyone else is just as impressed by you as you are,

until you suddenly realize that you're so drunk,

you can't fully control yourself, your movements, or your words,

or that crazy laughter that makes your mouth twist and your eyes water,

and your whole body convulses as you splash the drink all over your plate, your knees and your chest.

And then you realize that this isn't that big a party,

...