Reward System

Calder debuts with a sharp collection that follows characters as they negotiate their relationships, self-presentation, and the banality of their routines. In the long multipart opener “A Restaurant Somewhere Else,” a young woman named Julia celebrates a new sous chef job and an exciting romance with the restaurant’s head chef, Ellery, all of which seems promising until she receives troubling messages about Ellery from her predecessor. In “Better Off Alone,” Julia’s ex, Nick, reconnects with their old friends while nursing an inferiority complex brought on by his dead-end copywriter job and continuing struggle to write fiction. Months later, in “Excuse Me, Do I Know You,” Nick and Julia bump into each other. As they catch up, Julia doesn’t share about her relationship, nor does Nick talk about his stalled attempts with writing. They part ways, but as Calder shows in “The Foreseeable,” they stay connected over emails, texts, and FaceTime during the Covid-19 lockdown. While the choice to stretch out the narrative across several stories often diminishes their impact, it leaves room for Calder’s insightful observations on the nature of romance and friendship in the age of right swipes and perfectly curated Instagram grids. There’s plenty to dig into, even if the whole’s a bit uneven. Agent: Tracy Bohan, Wylie Agency. (July)