The VICE Magazine Podcast is your definitive guide to enlightening information. Our 11th annual Fiction Issue, which went live last week, is a celebration of the art of fiction. Inside, we showcase the exclusive works of 16 authors—including Tim Parks, Ottessa Moshfegh, Joyce Carol Oates, Alexia Arthurs, David Shields, and many more—alongside beautiful original photography made especially for each story.

For the issue, Alena Graedon, author of the 2014 dystopian thriller The Word Exchange, provided us with a new short story called “The Padded Attacker.” In the story, the man who plays the part of the “attacker” at a self-defense class is surprised when a woman who recently broke up with him shows up for the weekend workshop. Graedon recently stopped by the office to talk about the inspiration behind the story, what her writing and feedback process is like, and more.

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