nthposition online magazine

Ray Nayler

Nayler has worked and lived in Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan. His work been published in magazines ranging from The Berkeley Fiction Review to Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. He is the author of American Graveyards, a novel published by TTA Press. He currently lives in Moscow.

Night and nowhere: Khujand to Istaravshan

[ places - april 10 ]

"The car is drifting slowly through a Central Asian city at night. This particular city is Khujand, but it could be a city in almost any of the Central Asian 'Stans where I have spent most of the last six years of my life."

Cities in dust

[ fiction - march 08 ]

"I am exhausted, somewhere in the Russian hinterland, conversing with a cabbie about life. And you, who felt completely justified in criticising me, are where?"

Shopping in Fortress America

[ places - september 07 ]

"Safety does not exist here, outside or inside the walls. One moment you are alive and feeling safe; and the next minute you are dead."

Thirteen ways of looking at a blackbird

[ places - november 06 ]

"The teachers are trying to figure out a Turkmen name for their organization, and a way to word things so that the KNB, the secret police here, will not shut them down. "