From Our Readers & Listeners

NPR's Bob Mondello and Susan Stamberg read excerpts of two of the best submissions for Round 11 of our short story contest. They read The Art of Compromise by Lindsey Appleford of Boerne, Texas, and Claudia Who Found the F by Sean Enfield of Denton, Texas.

NPR's Bob Mondello and Susan Stamberg read excerpts of two of the best submissions for Round 11 of our short story contest. They read Snowflake by Winona Wendth of Lancaster, Mass., and Geometry by Eugenie Montague of Los Angeles.

NPR's Bob Mondello and Susan Stamberg read excerpts of two of the best submissions for Round 11 of our short story contest. They read Ten Ring Fingers by Tamara Breuer of Washington, D.C., and Ghost Words by Matheus Macedo of Winthrop, Mass.

NPR's Susan Stamberg reads an excerpt of one of the best submissions for Round 11 of our short story contest. She reads Plum Baby by Carmiel Banasky of Portland, Ore.

Hear how one listener got an NPR host out of the studio and to a shooting range to talk about guns.

Melissa Block and Robert Siegel read emails from listeners about a series on guns.

Round 9 of Three-Minute Fiction is in full swing. Readers from all over the country have made their selections, and now judge Brad Meltzer is close to making his decision. Meltzer is best-selling author of The Tenth Justice and The Inner Circle. He tells host Guy Raz about his favorite stories in Three-Minute Fiction so far. You can read the stories at www.npr.org/threeminutefiction.

Why is insurance employer-based? What kind of health care options would young women face under a President Romney? NPR's health policy correspondent breaks down the issues you want to know about leading up to the election.

It's big, it's blue and no one's sure yet what or where it came from. A squid? A whale? Big Foot? See if you can help solve the mystery.

Melissa Block and Audie Cornish read emails from listeners about a daughter's connection to her father through Don McLean's album "American Pie."