California Writer and Mental Health Counselor Pens a Book on the Engine of Anxiety in Everyday Life10/19/2021
PORTLAND, OR; October 19, 2021— SEPARATION ANXIETY is a stunning short story collection that shows how pervasive the disorder can be in everyday lives. In eighteen stories, Coshnear paints separation anxiety as an engine of change while being careful to tend to the delicateness of the disorder's consequences. Readers become intimately acquainted with the captain of a SWAT (team), a mental health case worker who falls deeply in love, an elderly man who is driven to rage when his wife is buried in the wrong hole, and many more.
From the Book At quarter to seven, he has one more hour of sunlight. He wanders the beach and the strip and returns to the beach. His skin, shrunken from the burn, shrinks more now in the cold. His lips look blue in an arcade mirror. The sky bleeds into twilight. There seems to be only one choice. He walks the long, flat, two-lane road back to the highway. He should’ve snatched a towel from the beach to keep warm, but he assures himself that it only takes one ride if you’re lucky, and he must be lucky, because the alternatives are too terrible. He imagines the perfect ride: Mrs. Hagner in her bra. Mrs. Hagner not in her bra. Her brown nipples pointing the way home. He doesn’t need to ponder on this long before he has an embarrassing lump in his shorts, and no one’s going to pick up a boy with an erection. Or maybe someone would, and that could be worse. He forces himself to imagine other perfect rides. Bruce Springsteen in a souped-up Charger with a double order of fries. He sings as he walks and surprises himself, because he knows all the words to “Born to Run” and most of “Thunder Road.” Praise for Daniel Coshnear’s Work “Daniel Coshnear’s stories are glimpses of peoples’ lives, thoughts, relationships…the facts of their lives. He manages to give a clear view of a character’s reality by looking just into ordinary incidents. His characters’ realities are multi-dimensional, and the characters themselves are complex. We perceive their thoughts, their needs and their circumstances through their eyes.” —Anastasia Tsolaki “As a physical object, the book is well-crafted. The stories are not just well-crafted (though they certainly are that) but illuminating and lyrical invocations of hopes and failures.” —Stephen O. Murray “The simplicity of the stories in Dan Coshnear's Occupy and Other Love Stories is deceptive. These are layered, complex stories, many of which examine the angst and the joy endemic to parenting. His narrators and protagonists are Everymen, each making his or her way the best they can through our crazy times. Life and parenting are often perplexing and Dan's careful storytelling and lovely prose, particularly phrases such as "sweet black sleep" make their challenges immediate and real.” —P. Porter “A well-balanced collection of short stories that will sit on my favorite shelf in a permanent position, I have no doubt. While reading, I had this feeling of honor - to be privy to such emotional openness and with such a deft hand.” —Stephanie Freele About Daniel Coshnear Daniel Coshnear lives in Guerneville, California with his wife and two children. He works at a group home for the homeless and mentally ill and teaches writing classes through UC Berkeley Extension. He is the author of Homesick, Redux (Flock 2015), Occupy & Other Love Stories (Kelly's Cove Press 2012) and Jobs & Other Preoccupations (Helicon Nine 2001) winner of the Willa Cather Fiction Award. About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Learn more at www.unsolicitedpress.com. SEPARATION ANXIETY is available on October 19, 2021 as a paperback (244 p.; 978-1-950730-65-0) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram. The author is open to speaking opportunities, interviews with the media, and readings. Electronic review copies are available upon request. ### Press only, Unsolicited Press Eric Rancino 619.354.8005 marketing@unsolicitedpress.com For artist interviews, readings, and podcasts: Daniel Coshnear coshn@sonic.net  PORTLAND, OR; October 14, 2021— Unsolicited Press announces the release of the moon won’t be dared a poetry collection by award-winning author Anne Leigh Parrish that features artwork by Lydia Selk. In this momentous debut collection, the poet harnesses language to give readers a new vision of nature, the impossible plight of womanhood, love, aging, and beauty. Being a woman in a male-dominated society affords Anne Leigh Parrish the space to witness the world on an uneven keel. Parrish pays tribute to beauty, but also weaves the harsh truths of betrayal and brutality into the filaments holding the collection together.
From the Book pulled back around circle or line? round or straight? what did einstein stay? the universe bends in on itself, or relates only to itself i don’t know but even a lizard remembers and is pulled back around and the memory held in my larger, more deeply folded brain cries to visit its hinterland, its former place as easily as the world circles from one day to the next Advance Praise for Anne Leigh Parrish Anne Leigh Parrish’s poems in the moon won’t be dared are an extended meditation that weaves through time and humanity, injustices and struggles, but with an eye towards love and beauty. These captivating poems carry an underlining ache of loss—past and future—but they are grounded in the present, in beetle and spider, in river and forest, in the windows that look into the yard. Parrish writes we can only burn slowly over time, and we see this book is full of light—fire, streetlight, smokelight, garden light, twilight, starlight, and in fact, darkness/becomes light when the world bears us/along. This is a voice willing to convey what isn’t working in the world, but also to always acknowledge what is—a child of the night/who lived on moonlight and cold sparkle stars. Parrish’s poems feed us, and they will hold us long enough/to tinge the dawn with hope. --Kelli Russell Agodon, author of Dialogues with Rising Tides (Copper Canyon Press). About Anne Leigh Parrish Anne Leigh Parrish is the author of nine previously published books: A Winter Night (Unsolicited Press 2021); What Nell Dreams, a novella & stories (Unsolicited Press, 2020); Maggie’s Ruse, a novel, (Unsolicited Press, 2017); The Amendment, a novel (Unsolicited Press, 2017); Women Within, a novel (Black Rose Writing, 2017); By the Wayside, stories (Unsolicited Press, 2017); What Is Found, What Is Lost, a novel (She Writes Press, 2014); Our Love Could Light The World, stories (She Writes Press, 2013); and All The Roads That Lead From Home, stories (Press 53, 2011). About Lydia Selk Lydia Selk is an artist who resides in the pacific northwest with her sweet husband. She has been creating analog collages for several years. Lydia can often be found in her studio with scalpel in hand, cat sleeping on her lap, and a layer of paper confetti at her feet. you can see more of her work on instagram.com/lydiafairymakesart. About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Learn more at www.unsolicitedpress.com. THE MOON WON'T BE DARED is available on October 14, 2021 as a paperback (150 p.; 978-1-950730-80-3) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram. ### Press only, Unsolicited Press Eric Rancino 619.354.8005 marketing@unsolicitedpress.com For artist interviews, readings, and podcasts: Anne Leigh Parrish anneleighparrish@comcast.net If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make?
Anne Carson. I wouldn’t cook. I would make my boyfriend do the cooking. He is a much better cook than I am. I’d probably have him do a charcuterie board, a salad with his homemade dressing (he makes the best dressing), and seafood chowder, with lobster of course. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? That I don’t have the self discipline to sit down and ever actually finish anything substantial. I wouldn’t say this fear has been combated. It’s alive and well. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? Vasya Petrovna from The Winternight Trilogy What books are on your nightstand? “Adventures in Tandem Nursing” by Hilary Flower “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer Favorite punctuation mark? Why? The em dash. It helps make sense of the way my mind works—too many thoughts going on all at once that are constantly interrupting one another. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? Too many to count. I’ve always been a slow reader. I like to take my time. As with every aspect of my life, I abhor being rushed. I started most of the books I was supposed to read, but never finished them as quickly as I was expected too. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? Coffee Does writing energize or exhaust you? Both. Writing something new is always exhilarating. Revising it is exhausting. What are common traps for aspiring writers? Believing that nothing you write is, or will ever be good enough. Which is what I feel about my writing all the time. I don’t really have a solution, except to just keep writing anyway. What is your writing Kryptonite? Having my phone anywhere near me. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? For sure. The human brain can only process so much input. When my life feels calm, I like to read books that are dense and complex, and require all of my attention. But when I’m stressed out and have a lot going on, I like to read books that are easy, and don’t require a lot of effort. For example, when I was studying abroad in France my sophomore year of high school, I felt so tired all the time trying to learn and process a new language everyday all day. This is super embarrassing, but my host family had the Twilight Series in English, so I read all four of them in 3 weeks. I’d read them back in middle school, so there was absolutely no reason for me to re-read them except for the fact that I was homesick, and they were a nice little getaway for my brain. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? I suppose they could be a writer, I just don’t know that they would be one I would have any particular interest in reading. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? “Giovanni’s Room” by James Baldwin. Maybe it’s not underappreciated, but absolutely everyone should read it, because it’s one of the best novels ever written. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? Nothing. In the words of Anne Lamott, “You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should’ve behaved better.” How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? I have one half-finished novel that I’ve been working on, on and off for the past ten years. Parts of it appear in this collection. I hope to finish it someday. What does literary success look like to you? J.K. Rowling. Stephen King. I set the bar low for myself. What’s the best way to market your books? I have absolutely no idea. What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? Wanting them to feel authentic, but knowing that they probably never will. What did you edit out of this book? Things I was embarrassed about having written. Things that didn’t need to be there. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? Well, right now I’m a full time mom with a one year old boy, and a baby girl on the way, and that’s a whole lot of work. I think I’d like to teach writing classes some day, if I ever get to go back to school. I’d also like to do a lot of my own writing. Writing is really the only thing that makes sense to me to do, as far as having a career goes.  PORTLAND, OR; October 12, 2021-- We're set loose, untended, like beings from a menagerie of sorts, one day cooped up, the next fending for ourselves out in the oddness of the world. This is the motif pursued in GATELESS MENAGERIE. We intersect with the wild as well when out roaming, reacquainting with the animal kingdom and it with us. We are one in the same: gateless and viewed. How do the animals see us? How do we appear to them? Are we in harmony or only tolerating one another?
About Larry D. Thacker Larry D. Thacker’s poetry is in over 150 publications including Spillway, Still: The Journal, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Poetry South, The Southern Poetry Anthology, The American Journal of Poetry, The Lake, Illuminations Literary Magazine, and Appalachian Heritage. His books include three full poetry collections, Drifting in Awe, Grave Robber Confessional, and Feasts of Evasion, two chapbooks, Voice Hunting and Memory Train, as well as the folk history, Mountain Mysteries: The Mystic Traditions of Appalachia. His MFA in poetry and fiction is earned from West Virginia Wesleyan College. Visit his website at: www.larrydthacker.com About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Learn more at www.unsolicitedpress.com. GATELESS MENAGERIE is available on October 12, 2021 as a paperback (102p.; 978-1-950730-79-7) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram. The author is open to speaking with the media, holding readings, and engaging in other author opportunities. ###  Imagine sailing around Cape Horn in an effort to wrestle some of the world's most treacherous waters and the haunting memories of war. Author Stephen O’Shea and U.S. Navy veteran Taylor Grieger do just that -- the documentary HELL OR HIGH SEAS (https://www.hellorhighseas.com/) follows their journey. But this isn’t the only time that Stephen O’Shea has come face-to-face with a veteran looking for solace. O’Shea, inspired by the impact of war and military life on veterans, wrote From the Land of Genesis (a 2020 Pen Faulkner Award nominee), a profound collection centered on veterans whose lives have been permanently affected by the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq. Based on research and interviews that O’Shea conducted himself, these interwoven stories offer insight to the struggles that veterans face upon returning home. However, the stories also feature glimpses of hope amidst the despairing truths that make for beautiful stories veterans can relate to, and for civilian readers to experience vicariously the extremes of the human condition. Stephen J. O’Shea is a writer, documentarian, and (now) sailor, who tells stories to stay alive. His research for From the Land of Genesis was the catalyst for the sailing expedition around Cape Horn to raise awareness about veteran suicide rates. Having miraculously survived that feat, he's now writing and producing stories through a number of mediums, including literature and film. Initially published in November 2020, the short story collection is being brought back to the spotlight with the release of the documentary, which is now available in select theaters and will begin streaming on October 12th. The documentary, from director Glenn Holsten, producer Chayne Gregg, and executive producer Robert Irvine, is projected to have a remarkable run in the indie film world. We invite members of the media to reach out to the author for interviews, events, readings, and other collaborative media opportunities. Mr. O’Shea can be contacted HERE. From the Land of Genesis is available as a paperback ($17.00; 302p.), ebook, and an audiobook. Ingram Book Group distributes the title to the market. Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Learn more at www.unsolicitedpress.com.   Are you ready for some super deals on our books? This year we are taking part in the American Booksellers Association's holiday promotion: October is the New December. With the book industry's massive issues in the supply chain, we are asking readers and those looking for gifts for their favorite readers to buy our books in October so we can guarantee that the books get to the right place just in time. Recently, we were told by our distributor that all book orders should be placed no later than November 5, 2021 to ensure delivery before Christmas Eve.
To encourage early holiday shopping, we've decided to discount EVERYTHING. All of our books are marked down. The print books. The ebooks. All of it! You can find all of our print books on sale in our bookstore, and our ebooks are discounted on Smashwords and most other ebook retailers. This is our way to say thank you for purchasing books earlier than later. Our October is the New December promotion with go through the end of October. Tell your friends.  We would like to invite you to attend a virtual reading Jay Kristensen Jr., author of LIGHT IN ROSADERO. The virtual reading will include a brief reading by Jay followed by questions and answers that participants may have -- we anticipate an informal and flexible environment. The event will start at 10AM and last for 30-45 minutes. Participants go head to our events calendar to join the reading. We ask that participants enter the reading 5 minutes early. We will not admit participants after 10AM to avoid disruption to the reading. About the BookOn the windswept plains of Far West Texas, the town of Rosadero sits at the crossroads of many worlds. Renowned as a capital of postmodern art, the ruins of the Zaldos Pueblo haunt the edge of town with the mystery of a vanished people. In the evenings, unexplained balls of light streak across the prairie, inspiring the imaginations of residents and visitors alike. Home to rancher dynasties and descendants of the Mexican Revolution, the modern realities of the border sweep up all who find themselves in Rosadero. Outlaw drifters with romantic dreams, border agents at war with their consciences, refugees seeking sanctuary, and the family risking everything to provide it—this is where their stories meet. Into this unlikeliest of settings, Anna Tatevyan travels in search of her missing brother, Jakob. A graduate student obsessed with the relationship between a sitting U.S. Congressman and an international crime syndicate, Jakob has vanished into the high desert without a trace. On her journey for the truth, Anna tries to help another woman also searching for a missing brother: Mariazul Bautista, a woman whose encounter with Anna leads to her arrest by the Border Patrol, an arrest that turns out to be a kidnapping. An anti-Western about the American origins of global violence, Light in Rosadero is a reckoning with the dark legacy of the frontier. About the AuthorJay Kristensen Jr. was born and raised in Seattle. He has lived around the country and currently resides in Seattle. Light in Rosadero is his debut novel.
If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make? Leonard Cohen. Cigarettes for him. Peach jam and a spoon for me. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? Running out of ideas. I just do my best anyway. When you put in the time, something always comes. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? Leonard Cohen and Anne from Anne of Green Gables. What books are on your nightstand? The Bottom of the River by Jamaica Kincaid, To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, and some Mark Strand collections are in another room somewhere. Favorite punctuation mark? Why? The space. The words are only there to remind us of the space. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn. Lots of books. I faked a lot of reading in college, too. Shakespeare was my worst grade in college. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgments? The baby swing. Coffee. The trampoline. If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? You are not your writing. It’s just something you do. Take a class or join a writers’ group if you get lazy like me. Does writing energize or exhaust you? Energizes me for sure. I like writing when I first wake up. What are common traps for aspiring writers? Thinking poetry is hard and full of rules. It’s the opposite. What is your writing Kryptonite? Talking about ideas before writing them. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? No, there are a million good things to read. I just don’t do it. I love reading work from author friends and the Nearby Universe, my writers’ group. I enjoy reading my students’ work, and I am lucky enough to get paid for that. But in my spare time, I am more likely playing outside with my kids. Like I said, we have a trampoline. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? Who doesn’t feel emotions strongly? No, I guess there are people whose energy goes mostly in thinking instead of feeling. Maybe they are plotting strategies for getting more money or power, like politicians. They could be successful in writing books for other people like themselves, strategy books. Or maybe there are thinkers who don’t want kids or lovers or friends or cats, they just want to philosophize all day. They could write books for each other too. Their job is easier: thinking is already in words. But I wouldn’t want to read their poetry. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? It’s always feedback, laughter, commiseration and encouragement, like any friendship. The poet Kelli Allen, who began as my professor. Carrie Cook. Carina Bissett and Amie Sharp and everyone in my writers’ group. My husband has given me some wonderful feedback too. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? Voice happens, I guess, but I want each book to have its own flavor, like Nicholas Samaras or Pink Floyd. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? I never knew revising so many times could help so much. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? Getting my MFA in Creative Writing online at Lindenwood University. I thought I just needed the deadlines, but I learned a lot and grew a lot. About half the pieces in Only Flying were first written in my classes there. “Chapter Twenty-six: The Map,” is an excerpt from the novel I began in the program. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? Rush. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? My mom used to whip an egg and add it to ramen for nutrition, but my little sister Robin wouldn’t eat it if she knew it was in there, so my mom told me not to tell her. I did, and she didn’t eat that ramen, and I marvelled at my power. There’s a better story, though, about that 70s song, “Dust in the Wind.” I must have been about five when it came on the radio and I told my parents it was about us, about my baby brother who died the day he was born--Dustin, the wind. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? Medicine Woman by Lynn V. Andrews. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? I choose the tiger but the salamander chose me. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? It depends on the person. Most of my characters are not based on anyone. My grandma in the book is my real grandma, and she’s the reason I became a writer. And my beloved in the book is my real beloved, my husband. But I owe them everything not because of that, but because of how they have loved me. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? One complete early readers chapter book, about two little kids in India; ¾ of a literary fantasy novel; ½ a new poetry collection; and one secret idea. What does literary success look like to you? Success in all fields is measured the same way: either you’ve been a guest on Sesame Street or you haven’t. What’s the best way to market your books? My favorite way would be word of mouth. What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? Not using words like “auburn.” What did you edit out of this book? “Bella is Suzanne,” for Leonard Cohen and my friend from college. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? I love teaching. I loved being a gardener, and I loved painting houses. If I could get paid for it, I could be an artist or illustrate children’s books. I was working on a book of poetry for children with my grandmother when she died, her poems and my paintings of animals. I hope to still finish it one day.
 The fifth annual Words & Pictures Festival will be a virtual, two-day celebration of local authors and illustrators on October 9th and 10th. Events include a keynote address from local publisher Laura Stanfill of Forest Avenue Press, workshops and panels for writers, events for children and families, Imagined Ink writing workshops for teens, and author readings.
Aspiring writers - check out the Writers Track of Words & Pictures Festival 2021. We have panels about every step in the publishing process, marketing yourself, and lots more! A representative for Unsolicited Press will be speaking about the small press industry on October 9th at 11:15AM. There’s something for everyone at Words & Pictures Festival 2021 - including activities for kids and families on Saturday and workshops for teen writers on Sunday. For security reasons, links to the sessions will not be published. Attendees who register for the event will be sent links for all of the sessions the day before the program. So don't forget to register: fvrl.org/words-pictures If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make?
Grace Paley, and for purposes of dinner, conversation, etc., preferably alive. I’d make borscht, a chicken pie, a salad from our garden. My guiding adjectives would be fresh, substantial, unpretentious. I’d look forward most of all to the post-meal stroll, the pleasure of watching her meet the neighbors’ dogs, the kids on trikes, the singular peach tree on Laughlin Road. I’d want to absorb a bit of her faith and humor and strength in this horrible time, as the powers that be draw us closer toward destruction. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? Taking a stupid turn into a swamp. Save, rename, press on. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? When I was 13 and listening to Jackson Browne, I’d hold the album in my hands, study his eyes, his perfect hair. Maybe get back to me on this one. What books are on your nightstand? It’s so tempting to make up a lie here. The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logicos Philosophicus. No, Roddy Doyle’s The Woman Who Walked into Doors. The Best American Short Stories 2019. Cornel West’s Black Prophetic Fire. Sam Lipsyte’s The Ask is in the bathroom. Favorite punctuation mark? Why? Period. That’s all I want to say about it. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? Nearly everything. The only books I remember finishing were Of Mice and Men and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? First, the rake, stirrer of partially desiccated oak leaves, memories. Second, the rolling pin, essential for pie making, which in turn is essential for keeping friends who read my early drafts. If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? Surprise yourself. Does writing energize or exhaust you? Certainly both. When it is going well, when visions and voices are competing for space in my head and space on the page, it offers a surge of energy. What are common traps for aspiring writers? Over-narration, trying to tell the reader what to feel. Speechifying dialogue. All, I think stem from a lack of trust in readers’ intelligence. What is your writing Kryptonite? Bulleit. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? Yes, often. I read and edit a lot of student writing. Seems every semester I hit a kind of wall – like where do my opinions come from? Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? Tough one. Strong emotions can be as much a hindrance as a help, I think. One must care. To paraphrase Heidegger, caring precedes experience. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? So many of my friendships are with fellow writers, too many to list, but I’ve put a few in my acknowledgments. How do they help? In a number of ways, but most important – they offer honest responses to my work, and sometimes very creative suggestions. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? Separation Anxiety is my third collection of stories. Each is organized by theme, but they have some common elements. Neuroses manifests in work relationships, in families, in romantic encounters. My characters are often in search of identity, stability, courage and love. My stories, as whole, might make a good companion to the DSM-5. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? I don’t know that it changed my process. It gave me a boost in confidence. I loved (and still love) doing readings. Perhaps I wrote more 1,000-word pieces with that in mind. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? My first book was published through a contest. I suppose that fee, whatever it was, was well worth it. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? Heavily descriptive writers like Nabakov, Conrad and Bellow are difficult for me. My mind wanders. But in the right state of mind, I can be enamored with the richness of the prose. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? In high school I read William Carlos Williams’ Poem As the cat climbed over the top of the jamcloset first the right forefoot carefully then the hind stepped down into the pit of the empty flowerpot It seemed like magic the way the words put the picture in my mind, the way I could feel the movement of the cat in the movement of the lines. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick by Peter Handke. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? Osprey, aka, river hawk. It circles, it glides, it sees into the depths, and when it strikes there is no hesitation. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? Plausible deniability. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? Two half-baked novels and half a dozen stories. What does literary success look like to you? I happen to have a long answer for this one: http://losangelesreview.org/daniel-coshnear-the-balanced-life-of-a-successful-writer/ What’s the best way to market your books? Strong reviews, readings, lots of readings, online and god willing, in person. Radio appearances. I wish I could say there is a niche audience for this book. Mental health workers. Mental illness sufferers. Members of families. Short story readers. Worriers. Bedwetters. Comedians. What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? The difficulty arises if I dwell on this idea of “opposite sex.” Are we not each a composite of those we have known? We are a concert of voices; the fiction is this thing we call self. That said, I know nothing about dress sizes. What did you edit out of this book?” A couple of stories that seemed too similar to others. A few quirky short pieces that didn’t pertain to the theme. A mock daytime TV drama. An interactive story that presented a formatting nightmare. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? Well, I guess I’m doing it. I work at a group home for homeless, mentally ill folks. And I teach. Both at times draw from the wells of the writer in me. When I was a child, I wanted to be Gale Sayers. If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make? I love so many authors it’s hard to narrow it down to one. I’d host a series of dinners, and the first invitee would be Rohinton Mistry, who wrote A Fine Balance, one of my favorite books. I’d serve whatever he prefers. I’d also love to dine with Naguib Mahfouz, author of Midaq Alley, another book I love because of his facility with the omniscient narrator and his ability to illustrate the messiness and unexpectedness of life inherent in the arc of the lives of his characters. I’d serve him stuffed grape leaves and pilaf. Alice Munro (love all her work), Joyce Carol Oates, and Frank Conroy whose book Body and Soul is among my favorites and Andre Dubus III, (loved his book, House of Sand and Fog) would make interesting dinner guests. I’d have to host a never-ending salon to break bread with all the writers I admire. Oh--and Philip Pullman! I’d love to have dinner with him and discuss his Dark Materials double trilogies. He is a children’s book author but his books work on many levels that speak to adults too. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? The what-comes-next question. It’s a matter of knowing the character intimately because each one reacts differently to the same set of circumstances, but getting to that point of intimacy with character can be scary. I always start by reading the beginning of the chapter or section that i’m working on and stop the writing day with an unfinished sentence so I have an idea of what comes next. I also do rough outlines. I do writing exercises when my mind is totally blank or blocked. I also write from a different perspective other than the one I’m focused on--to reveal other information about characters or other information that the narrator may not know. Not being disciplined enough is scary but keeping disciplined is a way to combat fears. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? For a long time, I was crushing on Michael Ondaatje because I loved the sapper in The English Patient. I’ve also long loved the stories Issac Bashevis Singer, for his short stories, which I first discovered in The New Yorker. I admire his boldness. Michael Chabon is another literary crush--I’ve read all of his books, beginning with The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. What books are on your nightstand? Little Axe, by Lauren Francis Sharma The Death of Bees, by Lisa O’Donnell Half of the Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie The Intuitionist, by Colson Whitehead What I Can’t Bear Losing, by Gerald Stern Pushcart Prize collections for 2019 and 2018 All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Boerr The Cost of Living, by Deborah Levy The Black Book, by Orhan Pamuk In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, by Daniyal Mueenuddin Favorite punctuation mark? Why? The semi-colon because it’s an elegant way to connect ideas. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? The all-girls Catholic school I attended distributed summer reading lists and required book reports at the beginning of the fall semester. I do remember reading books NOT on the list, such as DH Lawrence’s scandalous Lady Chatterly’s Lover, the Women’s Room, by Marilyn French; and all the science fiction books I could pinch off my older brother’s bookshelves. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? My laptop. It’s a workhorse. I appreciate its steadfastness and its sturdiness. If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? “Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.” – William Wadsworth Does writing energize or exhaust you? Energize me. When I’m always energized when I’m writing and it’s flowing. What are common traps for aspiring writers? Not reading enough. Many aspiring writers these days don’t seem to like reading books or know the greats in the cannon. What is your writing Kryptonite? Not filling the well enough, not getting refreshed and renewed with new ideas from other arts like theater, music, visual arts, and string arts. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? Yes when I’m overtired. I often do craft exercise or tackle a character from a different perspective. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? No. Writing that comes alive is about moving readers. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? Susan Muaddu Darraj, author of two story collections and a children’s chapter book series titled Farrah Rocks, is one of my best friends. We bounce story ideas off each other, help each other set writing goals as we navigate the writing life as mothers with child rearing responsibilities and as professional women with full-time jobs. https://susanmuaddidarraj.com/ Jen Michalski is another good friend. We trade stories and workshop them in terms of craft, what’s working, not working. We also look out for opportunities for each other. http://jenmichalski.com/ I consider Tom Jenks of Narrative Magazine online as my mentor. In addition to being his student in his workshop, I’ve been a reader for Narrative Magazine since 2003. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? Each book stands alone to create a body of work that spans worlds, characters, and cultures. My novel, now in progress, is titled Delia’s Concerto, and chronicles the summer of a 15-year old girl, who is a gifted pianist but nothing about her life is working. A second collection of short stories is completed and explores loss and grief. Another work in progress concerns survivors of the Sikh Holocaust of 1984. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? So far, it hasn’t. Maybe that will change when it comes time to promote the book. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? The Writer’s Studio classes in NY and workshops with Tom Jenks, both after having completed Hopkins. I wouldn’t have understood the Writers’ Studio or workshop classes as well without having completed the work at Johns Hopkins. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? Philip Roth. I hated Portnoy’s Complaint. But loved his later book, The Human Stain. What’s the best way to market your books?
What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? Trying to write a male character that isn’t passive or feminine. What did you edit out of this book?” Dialogue that wasn’t working. Some verbal bad habits that found their way into the narratives. Unnecessary and imprecise words. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? Real estate development or city planner, reusing and transforming defunct properties. I loved writing the real estate, neighborhood, and property stories for the local newspapers and magazines.  PORTLAND, OR; September 30, 2021— Who’s Going to Love the Dying Girl? by Bree Rolfe tells the story of a woman diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis who is trying to navigate life and love in a body that is failing. These poems capture the collision of a reckless past and a foreshortened future with unwavering honesty. They confront the title question thrown at her one terrible night.
From the Book You came here for simple things you thought would make everything better-- bathtubs and driveways and backyards. But you never use these things. Never soak in the bath or swing in the hammock or rock in the chair you coveted for years and finally bought. Praise for Bree Rolfe’s WHO’S GOING TO LOVE THE DYING GIRL? “It all unravels, Bree Rolfe announces in the beginning of this confident, self-possessed collection. But these savvy, canny poems don’t concern themselves with re-knitting what’s already unknotted. Instead, they situate themselves right in the big, fat, fucked-up middle of the mess that life makes of us all. These poems are keenly observant, prescient, sardonic, and infused with some of the most unimpeachably glorious gallows humor I’ve ever encountered. But more importantly? They are honest and undisguised. At the center of Who’s Going to Love the Dying Girl? is a heartbreakingly frank examination of that which makes us most human: tangible, mortal loss. Read this book now.” --Jill Alexander Essbaum, author of Would-Land. “Bree Rolfe is an effortlessly beautiful lyricist, and a storyteller of the highest order. The title of her debut collection is sad, and it’s plaintive, and that isn’t a bait and switch — her poems are, too. But beyond sadness and plaintiveness (already fine goals for poems, and Rolfe hits the notes perfectly) the pieces in this collection are something more rare: wholly true. And not like “based on a true story” true, but the sort of conceptual, difficult, real life truth that doesn’t have easy answers. With deftness, Rolfe makes poetic explorations of illness, abuse, codependency and loss as relatable and moving to readers as those of friendship, perseverance and love. This book is a gem. Read it immediately.” --Jessica Piazza, author of Interrobang “Bree Rolfe’s “Who’s Going To Love The Dying Girl?” reminds us of our own mortality, while managing to feed us those heavy truths battered in a combination of sharp, dark humor, bittersweet nostalgia & a type of subtle but profound, omnipresent romance that I’ve rarely encountered in writing. Via reflections on youth, aging, love and loss , Rolfe manages to transport us back to defining moments of her history while firmly cementing her place as a middle aged woman living with “a child’s disease” of cystic fibrosis. --Ceschi Ramos, hip hop artist & owner of Fake Four Records About Bree Rolfe Bree A. Rolfe lives in Austin, TX, where she teaches writing and literature to the mostly reluctant, but always lovable, teenagers at James Bowie High School. She is originally from Boston, Massachusetts, where she worked as a music journalist for 10 years before she decided she wanted to dedicate her life to writing poetry and teaching. Her work has appeared in Saul Williams’s poetry anthology, Chorus: A Literary Mixtape, the Barefoot Muse Anthology, Forgetting Home: Poems About Alzheimer’s, the Redpaint Hill Anthology, Mother is a Verb, and 5AM Magazine. She holds an MFA from the Writing Seminars at Bennington College. Her first chapbook, Who's Going to Love the Dying Girl?, is forthcoming from Unsolicited Press in September of 2021. http://breerolfe.com/ About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Learn more at www.unsolicitedpress.com. WHO'S GOING TO LOVE THE DYING GIRL? available on September 30, 2021 as a paperback (54 p.; 978-1-950730-77-3) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram. The author is open to speaking opportunities, interviews with the media, and readings. Electronic review copies are available upon request. ### Press only, Unsolicited Press Eric Rancino 619.354.8005 marketing@unsolicitedpress.com For artist interviews, readings, and podcasts: Bree Rolfe breearolfe@gmail.com  PORTLAND, OR; September 29, 2021— Discover the best and worst of what it means to find yourself in the modern world. Transitions by E.A. Johnson, a story told through poetry, follows a troubled adolescent on the verge of both self destruction and self actualization.
When a young man finds himself in that awkward stage between middle and high school, a difficult time for anyone, he begins to understand what it means to find yourself in the modern world. Between navigating life both in school and online, his family begins to crumble around him, and everything he once relied on becomes everything he fears. As the struggles at home and school pile up, he begins to lose the few things he has left until he feels there is nothing left to lose. When he thinks he’s lost everything, the only things left are self-destructive urges. When he finds his father’s pain pills, he thinks he finds a way out of his own pain. Instead, he discovers that when everything looks like the end, if you hold on just a little longer, you might just find a new beginning. Transitions explores some very difficult topics such as bullying, teen and adult addiction, abusive relationships, and suicide. But it also explores the depths of love and support that surround us even when we think we’re alone, leading to the conclusion that even in the darkest moments of our lives there is a way back to the light. About E.A. Johnson E.A. Johnson is a High School English teacher who has had the privilege of working with students in an important transition time in their life. While recently he teaches mostly seniors, he has worked with all grade levels at different times in his 15 year career. When he’s not teaching, he can be found wandering in the woods looking for a good lake to swim in or playing in the back yard with his own children. And while they still get up in the middle of the night— nightmares are real—he wouldn’t change a thing. You can find his previous poetry collection The Conditions We Live published by Unsolicited Press, You can find some of his other poems in The Chaffey Review (Spring 2010), The Battered Suitcase (Winter 2010), and Writing Tomorrow (February 2012). If you’re looking for something a little different, he has also published a choose your own adventure story as an Alexa skill titled “Dreamweaver Unlocked,” and his first full-length novel Under the Shadow’s Eye, book one of the Dreamweaver Diaries. For more information or updates, check out his website: ericjohnsonwriter.com About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Learn more at www.unsolicitedpress.com. Transitions available on September 29, 2021 as a paperback (166 p.; 978-1-950730-78-0) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram. The author is open to speaking opportunities, interviews with the media, and readings. Electronic review copies are available upon request. ### Press only, Unsolicited Press Eric Rancino 619.354.8005 marketing@unsolicitedpress.com  PORTLAND, OR; September 28, 2021 — Unsolicited Press announces the immediate release of Heather lang-Cassera’s GATHERING BROKEN LIGHT, a haunting and mesmerizing poetry collection. Gathering Broken Light confronts pasts we cannot understand, largely following the October 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas. Anchored in the severity and the beauty of the Mojave Desert landscape, fractured narratives, surrealist repetition, and imagistic lyricism work to contemplate grief, including both overwhelming sorrow and deep love. To those lost by gun violence, a voice yearns, “I wish I could sing the sky to you.”
In a collection that refuses to flatten the horrors of gun violence, both “flashing restless anger” and immense sadness, acknowledging that grief never leaves entirely, these poems also offer small comforts, even hope, as the “century plants continue to bloom // slowly, like stars burn” beneath a “moon as emptiness traced / and brimming with promise / because both can be true.” To those lost, this collection insists, “You deserve to be remembered.” Praise for GATHERING BROKEN LIGHT Heather Lang-Cassera’s Gathering Broken Light is an extended meditation on the shattering legacies of American gun violence. Dedicated to the victims and survivors of the October 1 mass shooting in Las Vegas, Gathering Broken Light grapples with the unspeakable. In lyric, light-infused poems evoking the dramatic beauty of the Mojave Desert, Lang-Cassera repeatedly confronts language’s limitations to represent trauma — “these metaphors attempt to dissociate / or to try to understand, / but nothing in between” or “I took words & placed them on my tongue, / a quiet catapult for what / I cannot say” — while still, nonetheless, insisting on the reparative linguistic rituals of elegy. The untitled poems seamlessly flow from one to another: ekphrastic poems glaze random discarded objects documented in Getty news photographs of the shooting with heartbreakingly tender attention, while recurring poems beginning with the words “in an alphabet of grief” attempt to articulate a lexicon of trauma. Gathering Broken Light is a gorgeous canticle that powerfully catalogues personal and collective griefs within a ruptured and rupturing world. — Lee Ann Roripaugh, author of tsunami vs. the fukushima 50 With the exquisite control of evocative language and the brilliant use of repetition, the intimacy of Gathering Broken Light mirrors the persistence of trauma and resilience. Lang-Cassara guides us through the deepest rooms of grief, both collective and personal, with both stunning and haunting attention to image — “one before the summoning of ghosts, / one before the faces washed pale by floodlights, / one before the eyes wider than the mouths / of oh, holy night.” This lyrical engagement with loss laces together the fragmented and unanswerable questions a community contends with when recovering from a tragedy with such harrowing effects as the October 1 mass shooting. I felt invited to bring my own ache to a collection that renders the reader captivated with a tension and a longing so deeply felt and known that it becomes an offering to both the bereaved and a beloved city, which shimmers, even as it breaks, with belonging. — Jennifer Battisti, author of Off Boulder Highway Let us not forget. Poetry can help us to fulfill that admonition. In the tradition of such testaments as Chris Llewellyn’s Fragments from the Fire, remembering the garment workers killed in the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire, and Valerie Martínez’s Each and Her, remembering the hundreds of women and girls murdered in Ciudad Juaréz, Heather Lang-Cassera’s Gathering Broken Light remembers to us those killed, those injured, those aggrieved in the 1 October 2017 shooting in Las Vegas. These poems attend to detail: “the abandoned napkin is a collapsed cloud”; “A trampled cup is a deserted snow globe”; “The aluminum can is a failing telescope.” Such careful observation of what was left behind is remembrance of what was taken away. Heather Lang-Cassera’s “alphabet of grief” makes Gathering Broken Light one quiet, wise way of “confronting / pasts we cannot understand.” — H. L. Hix, author of Rain Inscription Book Excerpt The tension above the water glass foreshadows the moon just this once. The mourning dove brushes the sill like a finger on a trigger. About Heather Lang-Cassera Heather Lang-Cassera lives in Las Vegas, Nevada where she served as Clark County Poet Laureate (2019–2021) and was named 2017 “Best Local Writer or Poet” by the readers of Nevada Public Radio’s Desert Companion. Heather holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a Graduate Certificate in Literary Translation. She serves as an Editor for Tolsun Books and World Literature Editor for The Literary Review. Her chapbook, I was the girl with the moon-shaped face, was published by Zeitgeist Press. At Nevada State College, Heather teaches College Success, Composition, and Creative Writing. www.heatherlang.cassera.net About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Learn more at www.unsolicitedpress.com. GATHERING BROKEN LIGHT is available on September 28, 2021 as a paperback (120 p.; 978–1–950730–91–9) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram. The author is open to speaking opportunities, interviews with the media, and readings. ### Press only, Unsolicited Press Eric Rancino For artist interviews, readings, and podcasts: Heather Lang-Cassera  Join us for an evening of festivities, literature, and potential technical glitches as we host a virtual reading with esteemed authors Anne Leigh Parrish and Terry Tierney. Both authors will read from a selection of their choosing and we will banter/converse afterwards. The event is on October 2, 2021 at 5PM Pacific. You can RSVP here. About the Authors
Books by Terry Tierney and Anne Leigh Parrish PORTLAND, OR; September 21, 2021— On the windswept plains of Far West Texas, the town of Rosadero sits at the crossroads of many worlds. Renowned as a capital of postmodern art, the ruins of the Zaldos Pueblo haunt the edge of town with the mystery of a vanished people. In the evenings, unexplained balls of light streak across the prairie, inspiring the imaginations of residents and visitors alike. Home to rancher dynasties and descendants of the Mexican Revolution, the modern realities of the border sweep up all who find themselves in Rosadero. Outlaw drifters with romantic dreams, border agents at war with their consciences, refugees seeking sanctuary, and the family risking everything to provide it—this is where their stories meet.
Into this unlikeliest of settings, Anna Tatevyan travels in search of her missing brother, Jakob. A graduate student obsessed with the relationship between a sitting U.S. Congressman and an international crime syndicate, Jakob has vanished into the high desert without a trace. On her journey for the truth, Anna tries to help another woman also searching for a missing brother: Mariazul Bautista, a woman whose encounter with Anna leads to her arrest by the Border Patrol, an arrest that turns out to be a kidnapping. An anti-Western about the American origins of global violence, Light in Rosadero is a reckoning with the dark legacy of the frontier. Praise for Light in Rosadero “With this fine debut novel, Jay Kristensen Jr. captures the heat and mystery of the great American Southwest. Written in the spirit of Charles Bowden and Luis Alberto Urrea, he gives us a harrowing story rich in history and vulnerable characters. A poignant, well-researched portrait of a place.” —Doc Hubbard, blogger, The Southwest Dude “Bright desert hues mix with dark unknowns…Light in Rosadero peels back layers of generational violence to reveal a frontier where fireball dreams struggle to survive amidst greed and injustice.” —Mick Bennett, author of Beat the Blues and the Belmar Trilogy About Jay Kristensen Jr. Jay Kristensen Jr. was born and raised in Seattle. He has lived around the country and currently resides in Seattle. Light in Rosadero is his debut novel. Learn more at https://www.jaykristensenjr.com/ About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Learn more at www.unsolicitedpress.com. LIGHT IN ROSADERO is available on September 21, 2021 as a paperback (292 p.; 978-1-950730-71-1) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram. The author is open to speaking opportunities, interviews with the media, and readings. Electronic review copies are available upon request. ### Press only, Unsolicited Press Eric Rancino 619.354.8005 marketing@unsolicitedpress.com For artist interviews, readings, and podcasts: Jay Kristensen Jr. https://www.jaykristensenjr.com/contact  If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make? I’d love to hear Alejandra Pizarnik read either Árbol de Diana or La tierra más ajena, and to know more about her experiences. I’d offer her tea, coffee, and/or coriander strawberry salad. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? I tend to write about difficult experiences, events, and circumstances. I think this is important for a number of reasons. For example, poetry can serve as a companion to a reader, helping us to feel less alone and/or to better understand ourselves and the world around us. Moreover, poets are a sort of historian, ensuring important events, perhaps especially the emotional information surrounding those events, is not lost. We must learn from the past. However, I certainly fear that my more difficult work could evoke painful memories in a reader or listener. For this reason, there are poems I will not read at a reading unless the event has been marketed in a way that the audience clearly understands which topics will arise. Moreover, I am deeply fortunate to have a community of fellow writers to whom I can show my work and with whom I can chat about my concerns. I trust them to be honest about how they receive the poems and how they feel the work may be otherwise received. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? Lee Ann Roripaugh. Perhaps more than any other books, Lee Ann Roripaugh’s poetry collections have taught me about the craft of poetry, especially cohesive collections, effective book-length topography, as well as the effects that literature can have on the intersection of our hearts and our minds. I teach her most recent collection, tsunami vs. the fukushima 50 (Milkweed Editions, 2019), in my Asian American Literature class at Nevada State College, and we read some individual poems in my Creative Writing courses, as well. I had the exceptional honor of hosting her for a reading and a generative-writing workshop through my Clark County Poet Laureate programming, and my adoration for her only grew. She is eloquent, brilliant, and generous. What books are on your nightstand? Currently books are cascading from my nightstand, which is a prettier way to say that I have a mess. However, a few of them are Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus, Lee Ann Roripaugh’s Beyond Heart Mountain, Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s Oceanic, Lisa Ciccarello’s At Night, Jake Skeets’ Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers, and Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko. There are also a few proofs of Tolsun Books, a small press for which I am a founder and editor. Favorite punctuation mark? Why? I’m currently in love with the em-dash for the ways in which it allows me to shift meter and pacing. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? This isn’t quite the same, but perhaps sometimes our Band sheet music. On occasion, we’d riff and improvise, often much to the conductor’s dismay. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? I might thank my saxophone. Long before I became a poet, I learned musicality--phrasing, meter, pacing, and more--by playing the saxophone. If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? I have two thoughts. First, I might write, Make time for yourself. Authors’ successful writerly processes vary greatly, so I hesitate to give too much advice. However, I think that if we don’t take some time for ourselves, it can be difficult to exist as creatives. Second, something I tell my Creative Writing students is to try each poem 11 different ways. I learned this from one of my MFA mentors, H.L. Hix. I can’t remember if the exact number was 11, but the message I took from a conversation with him about revisions was to try our work in a variety of ways so that we can learn and grow as writers as well as allow a poem or story to discover its truest version of itself. Does writing energize or exhaust you? It depends. If I can strike a balance between teaching, hiking or swimming, and writing, then writing energizes me. However, if I’ve already spent too much time sitting still in a day, then I need to get up and outside to brainstorm. This said, this, too, is part of my writing process. What are common traps for aspiring writers? I think it is important to read often and widely and to spend more time writing than submitting. What is your writing Kryptonite? An empty bag of coffee. I know this is a bit cliche, but I really love light roast coffee. I get in my own way in plenty of other ways, too, such as anxiously prioritizing to-do lists. However, I’m lost without coffee. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? Yes. Well, more specifically, while I was Clark County Poet Laureate, especially during 2020 in the thick of the pandemic, I was often too tired to read. This might sound wild, but even holding up a book was cumbersome. This said, I did listen to audiobooks like On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous; hearing that novel in Ocean Vuong’s voice was exceptional. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? I admire books that are deeply cohesive within themselves, such as Roripaugh’s tsunami vs. the fukushima 50, which explores the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster, and Patricia Smith’s Blood Dazzler, which tracks the destruction of Hurricane Katrina. I like to understand how poems fit together within a book. Otherwise, I might prefer beautiful broadsides of individual poems, for example. All of this is to say that I would like each of my books to gather deeply connected pieces together to make a whole, but I don’t endeavor to have a set of books with clear connections to each other. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? My experience confirmed the importance of cohesion. I want to explore the topography of a book, how poems speak to one another, what themes might be present, how the collection-length narrative may be discovered, however gently that arc might be weaved. Certainly, there are plenty of exceptions, but as I mentioned, many of the collections that move me the most gather poems that are deeply tied to one another. This is something I already knew about myself from reading, editing, and reviewing other poets’ collections, but publishing strengthened my understanding and, therefore, commitment to this aesthetic. Especially today when we can find singular poems or brief suites of verse online, and we can create breathtaking single-poem broadsides, my messy heart-brain yearns to know how poems work together within a book, harmonizing and/or building upon one another. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? I get anxious if I can’t travel. Going abroad has been life changing, but I don’t always need to go far. Even a day trip to Mojave Desert Preserve in California helps me make new discoveries and then return to the page more creatively. I loved riding the train from Nevada to Chicago with my husband; I brought my Royal Eldorado typewriter. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? I grew into poetry in general. I misunderstood poetry in middle school and high school, probably because of standardized tests or textbooks geared toward them. It thought that poems had singular specific meanings, implied thesis statements, if you will, and this is absolutely incorrect. Part of what makes a poem a poem is that it is difficult to paraphrase. Poems have themes. They can tell us stories. Most certainly, we can learn from them. However, they aren’t emails, memos, or expository essays. That’s not how art works! It is subjective, and the multifaceted nature of a poem is part of what makes poetry beautiful and brilliant. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? When I was very young I dreamt that space aliens took me to their ship and then vacuumed my voice out with our shop-vac. This is a nightmare that I’m still unpacking, but even then, I think it spoke to the importance of communication. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? I think I’d like to take this moment to share how deeply I admire both Ugly Duckling Presse’s Lost Literature Series, which is how I discovered the work of Pizarnik, for example, as well as Milkweed Editions Seedbank series of world literature. Here’s a few lines from Milkweed’s “About the Series” page: “just as repositories around the world gather seeds to ensure biodiversity in the future, Seedbank gathers works of literature from around the world that foster conversation and reflection on the human relationship to place and the natural world—exposing readers to new, endangered, and forgotten ways of seeing the world.” I am deeply grateful for the important work of Ugly Duckling Presse and Milkweed Editions. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? Many. Right now, however, I’m working on a collection of pantoums. I started to be drawn toward them early on in the pandemic. Due to the form’s repetition, they became a way for me to sit with what frightens me most as well as to rediscover even the most seemingly mundane aspects of life. They allow me to hold images and experiences almost within the palms on my hands, to roll them around, to see them from many angles, to contemplate what everything means. Of course, I almost always discover more questions, not answers, and I find comfort in this. What does literary success look like to you? For me, literary success is having a lifestyle that both allows me the time to write as well as to give back to other writers, such as my undergraduate students, the authors we publish at Tolsun Books, the diverse voices my Nevada community champions through workshops and open mics, and/or the authors whose small-press books I review to help spread awareness about their important work. What’s the best way to market your books? There are so many factors. I think finding a publisher that believes in your work and will champion your book is invaluable; astute line edits, a stunning cover design, professional press releases, a timeline that accounts for review copies, and an active relationship with distributors can be deeply important. This said, authors also must work to market their books by sharing the news with their communities, encouraging presales, being available for interviews, reading at events, and more. This may be less about marketing one’s book, but especially because I have mentioned the importance of making time for oneself, I should share this, too: I hope all writers might consider taking on some form of literary stewardship, whether that be editing poetry journals, hosting open mics, leading community storytelling workshops, reviewing small press books, etc. There’s so much that writers can learn from one another. Moreover, I believe in the importance of writing communities and of giving back. On that note, I’d like to express deep gratitude for S.R. and everyone at Unsolicited Press; you folx are exceptional. What did you edit out of this book? There is so much that I edited out of this book. I revised this collection countless times. One poem I removed was a sonnet. Between the rhyme scheme and the iambic pentameter, that metrical foot which mirrors our heartbeats, the form felt too neat and tidy, too perfectly controlled, for a collection that explores, in part, the complexity and unpredictability of grief. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? I’m a Lecturer with Nevada State College. I teach classes such as College Success, Creative Writing, and more. This said, if I didn’t write, I’d probably play my saxophone more often; I miss playing out with bands, but there are only so many hours in a day. I’ve also been a barista, a communications and development coordinator for a nature center, a Certified Veterinary Technician, etc. Gathering Broken Light Has the last 18 months been a whirlwind of emotion or what? The team at Unsolicited Press has managed to keep the press moving forward all while keeping our own lives as afloat as humanly possible. To be frank, it hasn’t been easy — delayed shipping due to transportation shortages, skyrocketing industry prices as a result of material costs and third-party companies raising rates to make up for lost revenue, loss of in-person author marketing, and a million other little things that make it one big mess. But you know what? Books and the people behind them (authors, marketers, publishers, artists) are resilient. Did we have to dip into the budget for future publishing years to guarantee that current books would see the light of publication? Yes. Failure is not an option. We knew sales would pick back up eventually — they are starting to. Did we have to figure out new ways to get books in front of readers? Yes. We learned that virtual readings and book tours increase a book’s readership. In-person events are important, but we learned that they are not the end-all-be-all of a book. Far from it. Did we have rely on each other to have faith that we would get to the other side of this? Absolutely. The pandemic has been and still is difficult and traumatic. To counteract the stress of the pandemic, we took the summer off. Thank you for understanding our need for this and exercising patience. Now that the fall air is breezing in day by day, our team is back at it and geared up for a smashing autumn book lineup. We hope you’re ready to book your evenings in your most comfy of reading spots. FALL BOOK LINEUPAUDIOBOOKS In addition to the above releases, we are happy to announce that audiobooks are slowly and meticulously being produced. This fall you will start to see notifications about our audiobooks on Twitter. You can also head straight to Amazon to see what we have available. EBOOKS Our ebooks are available through most online retailers as well as libraries (if you want your library to carry the ebook or print edition ask them). To give everyone a chance to sample an ebook, you can use the code JH64F on Smashwords to download an ebook for 50% off. HUMBLE REQUEST FOR DONATIONS This is the moment when are team humbly asks for your continued support of the press. Unsolicited Press operates on funding provided by donors, grants, and any leftover profit from the sale of books. Our editors, readers, marketers, sales reps, and staff are all volunteers who work their butts off to keep the literary mission alive. To keep the press funded, we ask those who can to make a donation to Unsolicited Press. Your donation goes directly toward the operations of the press. Thank you. What’s Coming in 2022
JANUARY 11, 2022: Protectress is a hybrid poetry-prose novella offering a risky take on the legend of Medusa. With stunning economy of words and a delicate hand, Protectress provokes us to think about the feminist identity and the power of compassion. Readers who fell deeply for Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey, Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad, Madeleine Miller’s Circe, Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven, Maria Dahvana Headley’s translation of Beowulf, and Toby Barlow’s Sharp Teeth will find themselves enamoured with Protectress. JANUARY 31, 2022: On Jan 4, 1973, a child was given up for adoption by a teenage girl; quietly, secretly, alone. Decades later, married with children and grandchildren, a stranger reaches out and upends the truths of her carefully built world. Love & Genetics follows the events of a tumultuous year in an astonishing story of love, loss, and the meaning of family. MARCH 8, 2022: Carrie Close’s What Have I Done? sings a feminist tune using sharply written prose and verse. Close writes of motherhood, sexuality, friendship & relationships with a messy honesty that’s hard to deny. MARCH 29, 2022: Living of Natural Causes is a later-in-life coming-of-age narrative. A late bloomer’s from-girl-to-woman trek; that is, a woman who has generally declined to play the game. These irreverent personal essays unite around the idea of pinpointing, coming to terms with, and ultimately celebrating your authenticity (the good, the bad, and the underrated) while owning its consequences — without a New Age-y shtick. I see this as a cross between Sloane Crosley (I Was Told There’d Be Cake and How Did You Get This Number) and Samantha Irby (Meaty and We Are Never Meeting in Real Life).  We are proud to announce that Ayendy Bonifacio's To the River, We Are Migrants Has Been Nominated for the 2022 Ohioana Book Award in Poetry.
To the River, We Are Migrants is Ayendy Bonifacio’s debut collection. In this nostalgic volume, the image of the river carries us to and away from home. The river is a timeline that harkens back to Bonifacio’s childhood in the Dominican Republic and ends with the sudden passing of his father. Through panoramic and time-bending gazes, To the River, We Are Migrants leads us through the rural foothills of Bonifacio’s birthplace to the streets of East New York, Brooklyn. These lyrical poems, using both English and Spanish, illuminate childhood visions and memories and, in doing so, help us better understand what it means to be a migrant in these turbulent times. Ayendy Bonifacio was born in Santiago De Los Caballeros, Dominican Republic and raised in East New York, Brooklyn. He holds a Ph.D. in English from Ohio State University. His areas of scholarship include American literature and culture, including Latino/a/x studies; digital humanities; public humanities; transamerican poetics, specifically the reprint poem as a form of public discourse; and hemispheric studies. His current book project, Poems Go Viral: Reprint Culture in the US Popular Press (1855-1866), draws examples from over 200 English- and Spanish-language popular dailies and weeklies between January 1855 and December 1866. This book studies what Bonifacio calls the virality of nineteenth-century poems. Akin to the way an image, video, and a piece of information go viral on the internet today, certain popular poems and poets circulated rapidly and widely through newspaper reproduction. His research is published and/or forthcoming in American Periodicals: A Journal of History, Criticism, and Bibliography; Prose Studies: History, Theory, Criticism; Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature; Postcolonial Interventions: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Postcolonial Studies; The Journal: A Literary Magazine; and The American Review of Books. He is also the author of Dique Dominican (Floricanto Press, 2017) and To The River, We Are Migrants (Unsolicited Press, 2020). In 2018, The Latino Author named Dique Dominican one of the “top ten best non-fiction books of 2017.”  Continuing the Dugan Family Saga, A Winter Night focuses on eldest daughter, Angie, and her issues with self-acceptance, love, and learning to trust. Angie’s been unlucky with men. Three awkward relationships have left her leery of commitment. When she meets Matt, a friend of her brother’s, she is instantly attracted to him. The attraction seems mutual, yet Angie can’t quiet her inner doubts. Is his interest sincere? Is he just using her for sex? Does he really not care that she carries a bit of extra weight? Angie is good at reading people, a skill that serves her well in her job as a social worker for a retirement community, but can’t read Matt at all. When Angie hears that a waitress at the bar where Matt works is arrested for selling cocaine, she soon learns that she and Matt were more than co-workers. Matt says the relationship is over, but Angie has trouble believing that, especially because he talks to her whenever she calls, and she calls all the time. Then there’s Matt’s history of drug use, which may not be as behind him as he says. His answers to Angie’s frustrated questions are plausible, reasonable, and ring of truth, but Angie’s suspicions remain. Is she being played for a fool? Or is she just scared of getting hurt again? A Winter Night is Parrish’s ninth book of fiction. Earlier Dugan books are Maggie’s Ruse, The Amendment, and Our Love Could Light The World.  On the windswept plains of Far West Texas, the town of Rosadero sits at the crossroads of many worlds. Renowned as a capital of postmodern art, the ruins of the Zaldos Pueblo haunt the edge of town with the mystery of a vanished people. In the evenings, unexplained balls of light streak across the prairie, inspiring the imaginations of residents and visitors alike. Home to rancher dynasties and descendants of the Mexican Revolution, the modern realities of the border sweep up all who find themselves in Rosadero. Outlaw drifters with romantic dreams, border agents at war with their consciences, refugees seeking sanctuary, and the family risking everything to provide it—this is where their stories meet. Into this unlikeliest of settings, Anna Tatevyan travels in search of her missing brother, Jakob. A graduate student obsessed with the relationship between a sitting U.S. Congressman and an international crime syndicate, Jakob has vanished into the high desert without a trace. On her journey for the truth, Anna tries to help another woman also searching for a missing brother: Mariazul Bautista, a woman whose encounter with Anna leads to her arrest by the Border Patrol, an arrest that turns out to be a kidnapping. An anti-Western about the American origins of global violence, Light in Rosadero is a reckoning with the dark legacy of the frontier.  Through this timely collection of seven short stories for older teens and adults, Irshad Abdal-Haqq unveils the legacy of oppression that countless generations of black Americans have endured. The first story, involving a girl and her tribe who are running for their lives from an evil army that forces female captives into sexual slavery, is reminiscent of a modern-day humanitarian refugee crisis in the Middle East, Africa, or South Asia. In a coming-of-age narrative, a teenaged boy defies law enforcement by fleeing from his rural home in the dark of night after his parents are lynched for seeking fair labor treatment. A third story is the tale of a multiethnic gang of teens who would rather live as a family of outlaws rather than endure the humiliation of racism and poverty. And in yet another, a long-time resident of a gentrifying neighborhood enlists the aid of a newcomer in her quest to fight off eviction for another month. Action-packed and eloquently expressed, these mesmerizing stories of desperation, hope, resilience, and human frailty, will spark the imagination and touch the heart of readers of all backgrounds. And most importantly, they highlight the need for intercultural cooperation against systemic injustices that discount the value of black lives. Distinctive notes at the end of the book provide ample support for educational activities, reading group discussions, and academic study.  Sometimes we try to connect to others, especially people we love but end up missing each other for a variety of reasons. The stories in STUMBLING TOWARD GRACE explore instances of imperfect people trying to connect to loved ones and others despite fractured relationships and personal flaws. These are ordinary people striving to survive and thrive in situations reflective of today’s challenges. A wife can no longer deal with her husband's recent paralysis. A husband desperately wants his wife to reconsider separating. A terminally ill man seeks to reconnect with his estranged daughter after cutting ties over an interracial marriage. A freelancing nun attempts to "save" a single mother from the perils of society. Rosalia Scalia vigorously examines people at their best and their worst. We are invited to witness how people who love each other struggle to reconnect their fractured relationships in the face of traumas, personal flaws, and unspoken hurts. STUMBLING TOWARD GRACE combines loss and grief with humor and grace as characters navigate their unwise decisions, unexpected deaths, or their resentments polished into gems.  The nineties have just come to a close when newly married twenty-somethings Ana and Paul abandon their deep-set roots in Jersey and move out west to Portland, Oregon. Soon after they settle into the sleepy, new city, Ana starts hanging out with Drew, her new boss, a mellow, long-haired skateboarder from So-Cal and the complete opposite in temperament to feisty Paul. Drew and Ana become fast friends. And it’s not long before everything that Ana thought she was building from scratch in a sluggish but thriving new city washes away with the relentless Northwest rains. Salad Days vacillates between mid-nineties era Jersey and early aughts Portland, as we witness Ana trying desperately to be an adult, all the while attempting to repair a broken moral compass without an owner’s manual.  Would you be willing to kidnap your child to save his life and set sail in search of a doctor that may hold the key to his survival when everyone else has given up? When it means you may lose everything regardless of the outcome? Pacific by Trevor J. Houser discovers what a desperate father is willing to do to save his son’s life...even if it means braving deadly storms at home and on the run.  Starting over is always easier among strangers. For Ford Carson, the process meant leaving behind the waves of South Florida, in order to forge a new life as a visual artist in the mountains of North Carolina. At the peak of his reinvention, he meets Grace Burnett—a young, wealthy Texas transplant in the midst of her own transformation. A mutual infatuation develops. But when Grace’s estranged husband arrives complications ensue. Matters only worsen when Ford’s own estranged son announces plans to visit for his eighteenth birthday. Thomas Calder’s debut novel explores the lasting impact of broken bonds and the unanticipated ways the past haunts those on the run.
 If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make? It would definitely be Anne Sexton. I would probably have to order take out, but also, I am I wouldn’t be too concerned with the food. I would, for sure, learn how to make a killer martini and I would keep them flowing. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? I don’t think it’s too original, but what scares me is that one day I will just stop writing. I think the best way to stave off this fear is simply to put your ass in the chair and write even when you don’t want to. I am in a lot writing groups and do a lot of generative workshops to make sure I am always giving myself structure and space to write. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? This is kind of an awkward question, but for sure, Terrance Hayes. What books are on your nightstand? Currently Gina Frangello’s memoir Blow Your House Down, Dave Berman’s poetry collection Actual Air, and some books I just bought at Third Man Records in Nashville Pain the Board Game by Sampson Starkweather, Nine Bar Blues by Sheree Renée Thomas, and The Gallows Pole by Benjamin Myers. Favorite punctuation mark? Why? This is kind of a cliché answer for a poet, but the em dash. Its rules are murky and versatile and I am not a fan of rules. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? Probably everything I was assigned, which in retrospect is kind of a shame. As an English teacher, I feel woefully under-read and I had to read a bunch of books I should’ve read before teaching them. I am playing catch up now. I for sure never read all of the Scarlet Letter when I was supposed to. I just couldn’t get through it. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? Trikafta, which is the drug that saved my life. Most of the poems in this collection were written when people with Cystic Fibrosis generally died in their 30s or 40s. With this new drug, the prognosis is much more hopeful. Unfortunately, this means I now have to start saving for retirement, but I guess that’s a good thing. If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? Say what you mean and stop bullshitting. Does writing energize or exhaust you? Usually it energizes me. It’s only exhausting when I can’t do it. Once the writing starts, it’s exciting. What are common traps for aspiring writers? I think sometimes people are too hung up on trying to be really deep or “poetic” when they first start writing poetry. They can’t just get out of their own way and just say what they want to say. I think it’s best just to trust your words when they arrive simply and straightforwardly. What is your writing Kryptonite? A lack of time or focus on the wrong priorities. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? Yes. Many, many times. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? I mean, I think they could be a “writer,” but I am not sure they could be a really great writer. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? My poetry queens and dear friends, Jessica Piazza and Jill Alexander Essbaum, have not only helped me by being stellar role models but also constantly providing me with much needed validation and guidance. Reading their work and following their journeys has given me a guide for what is possible. I am truly a better writer for having their friendship. Also, Tod Goldberg and Wendy Duren, who I met at the Bennington Writing Seminars, have been a constant source of joy and love and support for me. They are always willing to listen to me and give me advice on my work. Tod has been more than gracious in lending me his brilliance whenever I have needed it. I am also in an accountability group with a group of friends from Bennington College and we meet on zoom a few times a month. This group just helps keep me grounded and connected to the writing. It is a group of really talented and kind people who offer me a wealth of support and resources. I am very grateful to have it. Finally, for over ten years, I have been in a writing group called Brass Tacks with an insanely talented group of poets, including my dear friends Tina Posner and Judy Jensen. If I hadn’t been invited to that group by poet David Meischen, I truly believe I wouldn’t have ever published this book. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? I don’t think I ever consciously thought about this when putting the collection together. However, I have finished a full length collection and I do think it’s connected to this first one. After that, I am not sure, but for now there are connections. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? I don’t think it changed my process of writing too much except that it sort of gave shape and validation to what I was doing. I now think of the poems more of a collective whole or in terms of connections rather than just single poems floating in isolation. When I write now, there is a sort of universe in which my work lives. I think more about how my voice fits into the world. I am not sure I always thought of that before the book was accepted. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? I waffle on this issue a lot, but since you can’t put a price tag on connections and friendship, I am going to say spending the money on getting my MFA at the Bennington Writing Seminars. I think MFA programs are a lot of money and not always “worth” it in terms of job prospects or things of a practical nature, but for me, I don’t regret spending the money because it gave me a writing life. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? I tend to just move on quickly if I don’t like someone’s work. There’s so much out there that I can connect with that I don’t re-visit writers who I don’t connect with very often. But maybe James Joyce. I didn’t appreciate him much until I read Dubliners. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? I started writing when I was in fourth grade. I stole a stack of paper from my classroom and I was going to write a novel that was basically a rip off of a novel I had just read. And I guess in that moment, I realized I was so moved by a story that I wanted to write my own. Though, I quickly realized that novels were most likely not in my future and by middle school I switched to poetry. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? Mysterious Skin by Scott Heim. Or really any of Scott Heim’s books. He writes the most heartbreakingly beautiful work. I really want a copy of his poetry collection, but it’s impossible to find. I wish more people would read his work. He deserves all the money and awards. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? I have a lamp I love with a frog that looks kind of apathetic. So, I am going to go with an apathetic frog. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? Well, my poems are about me and the people who appear in them are real people, though always fictionalized in some way. Poetic license and all. And some of them, I don’t owe anything and some of them I owe everything to. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? I have one unpublished right now and maybe one half finished. I have a legion of abandoned ideas for collections though. What does literary success look like to you? Creating work that I am proud of mostly. If it also gets out into the world, then that is a nice bonus. What’s the best way to market your books? With poetry, I think it’s mostly word of mouth and doing events/ readings. I guess love it or hate it, social media is helpful. What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? I don’t really write characters, but I do worry that some of the situations and people that appear in my poems will make the real people annoyed or angry. However, the beauty of poetry is that it allows for a sort of conceptual version of the truth and not a journalistic approach. This usually alleviates the issue. But I guess the hardest part, particularly in this book, was deciding on telling my truth and not caring if people were offended. What did you edit out of this book?” I cut out a lot of poems I liked a lot but weren’t serving the narrative arch of the book. I am not always good at that so many thanks to my friend and fellow poet Tina Posner who really helped me find the story I wanted to tell. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? Well, I mostly teach for work, so I guess I would just teach. I can’t really imagine a career I could do well that didn’t involve some kind of writing. Maybe I’d try and be a private investigator-- that type of work always seemed interesting to me.  Who’s Going to Love the Dying Girl tells the story of a woman diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis who is trying to navigate life and love in a body that is failing. These poems capture the collision of a reckless past and a foreshortened future with unwavering honesty. They confront the title question thrown at her one terrible night.
 If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make? My cooking is a work-in-progress. But I would put on an evening pot of coffee for the late great Charles Bowden. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? Everything about writing scares me. But accepting fear is essential for any successful creative pursuit. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? Desire is the root of suffering. What books are on your nightstand? A mixture of social histories, Buddhist philosophy, environmental studies, and strange novels. Favorite punctuation mark? Why? Probably the em dash. I don’t know any better. What books were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? Most of them. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? The beat-up REI backpack I’ve been rocking since 2002. If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? Get to work. Does writing energize or exhaust you? Exhausts in the short term, energizes in the long term. What are common traps for aspiring writers? Ego and procrastination. What is your writing Kryptonite? Insomnia. Have you ever gotten writer’s block? Sure. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? Yes. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? I’m so new at this, I don’t really have author friends yet. But someday we should all meet up for espresso. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? I’ve adopted the view that all works of art are in conversation with one another, either directly or indirectly. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? Publishing my first book convinced me that top-to-bottom rewrites are worth the time and uncertainty. I’ve already done it again. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? Gas money. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? The reverse occurred with most of the Beat Generation. I still love Ginsberg, though. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? Swearing in elementary school. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? Tears of the Trufflepig by Fernando A. Flores. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar? The pronghorn antelope. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? I suppose they would have to tell me that if they ever found out. If their demands are reasonable, I’ll listen. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? I wrote my first novel when I was sixteen, from 2007 to 2008. Since then, I’ve been churning out about one project a year. Probably about a dozen unpublished novels, in other words. What does literary success look like to you? Respect from my readers. Maybe also a nice one-bedroom apartment. What’s the best way to market your books? With confidence. What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? No matter the character, I always ask: What does this person want, what are the contradictions of that desire, and what are the consequences of those contradictions? Works for everybody. What did you edit out of this book?” This book began as a trilogy, so technically, I edited out two other books to get this one. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? In my early twenties, I survived a brief but memorable career as a behavioral health specialist. I got stabbed at one point. By a child. Snag a Copy of Jay's BookIf you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make?
Kurt Vonnegut, though I’m not certain what I might make him for dinner. I feel like it might be best to bring him to a diner where they still allow smoking. I imagine us having the meatloaf but barely touching it. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? I’m obsessed with time. Do I have enough?, am I using mine wisely?, etc., therefore, I fear not having enough time to write, which I most certainly do not. I have to make time, and making time means creating little quiet pockets everywhere and anywhere so I can get words out of my head and into the computer or in my numerous journals and note-taking apps. I used to be much more regimented about dedicated composition time, but at my current stage of life, that’s just not feasible. Another fear of mine is not being able to find where I placed that crumb or nugget or spark amongst all the places I keep my ideas. One running Word doc seems to help with this. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? Steve Almond, final answer. I was in Steve’s workshop at the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop many years ago, around the same time that I was getting into his writing. The combination of meeting him, learning from him in live time and via his books, created a perfect storm in my writer’s heart. He’s honest and raw, and yet a million times sensitive and mindful of character. His mantra is mercy, and that too has become a recurring thread in my work. What books are on your nightstand? One or two works of fiction, either a literary magazine, collection, or a novel, plus, some super thick non-fiction book about history or a biography or something that I keep there to make myself feel smart. I also have something in Spanish: a textbook, novels, or magazines. I’m always trying to brush up on my second language. Favorite punctuation mark? Why? Em dash–isn’t it lovely? I like it because it’s not a comma (my least favorite punctuation mark), and the em dash is itself a slightly longer bit of time. It’s an exhale, a passing thought, a tiny dream. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? I’ve been forever trying to read Don Quixote. I assigned it to myself in high school and actually tried to cram it over a weekend because I had procrastinated before an essay exam. To this day, I still have not read it cover to cover. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? My bookshelf. Sometimes I just stare it, feel the spines, etc., to remind me that one day I might have a book on that same shelf. If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? This art is dying, kid, do everything you possibly can to keep it alive. Does writing energize or exhaust you? Energize me, most definitely, however getting to the writing itself is exhausting. What are common traps for aspiring writers? Trying to make something perfect, or thinking it will be perfect, in the first round. Just get as much as you can out of your head, and then come back again and again. Revising is where the magic happens. What is your writing Kryptonite? I suffer from a common writer ailment: Too-Many-Projects Syndrome. I’m invariably writing something in my head all day: a novel, short story, screenplay, poem, family history, or Season 1 of a Coming Soon hit Netflix series. Finding the vein is great, but finding too many veins overwhelms the process of creating itself. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? I get reader’s block all the time. I’m a painfully slow reader to begin with, so sometimes I grind to a halt and may not pick up the book again for weeks at a time. However, I almost always finish reading every book I pick up. Only very few have I put down and quit reading completely. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? Sure. They write User Agreements, Terms of Service, Cancellation Policies, etc. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? I consider my mentors my friends, but do they consider me, theirs? This would include Jess Walter, Laura Hendrie, Steve Almond. I’m Twitter pals with Leigh Camacho Roarks, Claire Rudy Foster, Tabitha Blankenbiller, and Deborah Reed, plus, my good friend Larry Feign. I went to MFA school with these aforementioned souls, and I’ve loved watching them evolve as writers. They’ve kept at it, and they’ve grown that skin that only writers have. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? I’d like to go with connections, but I believe my books might stand on their own. Reason being is I have so many interests and I like to use different voices. I also believe in the audience--they want to be challenged, and being a versatile writer is critical to a thinking audience. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? Getting to publication means editing, editing, editing. Becoming a ruthless self-editor who is deft with line edits, but who can also offer objective editorial advice is a skill all its own. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? Paying the money for contests, reading fees, workshop attendance, and yes, getting my MFA. It was all worth it, every penny. Writers support other writers--there’s no other way around it. I will gladly pay a fee for someone to read my work. My mentors’ salaries are priceless. Contests, tip jars, bring ‘em on. Oh, and submission services. I worked with Writer’s Relief years ago, and it was entirely worth it. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? I came to like authors I never knew before because of friends’ recommendations. Sometimes those recommendations were good, others not so good. I will say Joan Didion was one of those and I was blown away by what I thought I was getting into and what amazement I experienced. I also have had a reverse experience with George Saunders. I worshipped him, even tried to emulate him, for many years, but I’ve had to take a long break and I’m not exactly sure why. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? When I understood my grandmother’s Spanish. While Spanish wasn’t my first language, it was spoken enough within my family that I could only make some sense of it. For my grandparents, it was their first language, so they used it more often. I remember when I translated what she said, and she was shocked, amazed, and worried--now I knew what she was saying! What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? Bless Me Última was the first book that I could not put down. I read it at a time when I was really getting into literature as a young man, plus, it’s kind of like a spiritual handbook for hispanos from New Mexico. It’s widely known, but often overlooked because of its specificity in Chicano literature, however, its themes of love, death, and family are universal. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? Spider. I love spiders so much. I protect them and let them be. I always have, and I think they have a magical gift being able to spin webs. There’s also the perfect writer symbolism with their skill--spinning tales. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? I owe thanks to those people upon whom I base my characters. Thanks because I took a little part of them and immortalized it, made it into something. I do, however, think it’s a little like theft, but it’s also a compliment. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? One big one that’s been on ice for years, plus, an ongoing autobiography and an epic family history that may never truly be finished. I also have reams of false starts, inchoate chapters, fragmented stories, and a dustbin of “almosts.” What does literary success look like to you? Truly, one acceptance. That one editor, that one literary port, that one reader. That’s all we need. That’s all I’ve needed. I still remember that first letter telling me my story had a home. That and a teaching gig, a workshop, or a lecture series. Would love to do those some day. What’s the best way to market your books? All means necessary, being mindful of where readers traffic. Social media has its benefits, but I wouldn’t say that’s the end all, be all. A strategic tour and readings, local media outlets, and interviews will be effective, too. I also plan to hire a publicist. What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? Believing that you know what is truly going on inside their mind and body. I’ve received feedback from editors and readers who have said that my writing (when written as a woman) just didn’t feel like a woman. I’ve pushed myself to truly put myself in my femenine characters’ minds and ask myself: “Would she really think/feel/do or react this way?” When I’ve done that, the results are both rewarding and eye-opening. What did you edit out of this book? The stories in this book are the whittled down versions of often much longer, messy drafts. Each one took many passes before it was just right. “Agony in the Garden,” for example, first started like a novella with extensive backstory and longer scenes, but it ended up being a few flashbacks and one long climactic scene. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? I work full time in healthcare, which I’ve done for over 15 years. I like my day job and don’t see myself leaving it, however I do wish to close the book on it before I turn 50. I am also a husband and father, which I consider to be my most important jobs. Fantasy jobs: a showrunner for a T.V. series. That, or be a skinny vegan yoga teacher who lives in Taos, New Mexico and smokes un montón de mota. Enjoy an Excerpt from Richard Krause's "Crawl Space& Other Stories of Limited Maneuverability"8/30/2021
 Jockey Underwear WHO CAN IMAGINE being in the saddle? Its soft leather contours, the supportive rump, the smooth horn you can hold onto. The vast security that almost contrasts with the random stains to white cotton, as if you’d been splashing through mud, or battling branches and upsetting the yolks of newly laid eggs with the reinforced supports. That the underwear lets you breathe is the claim, and so you imagine riding breakneck on an unshorn heath, but once in the woods air is trapped. And the hemorrhoids the underwear absorbs with a double thickness of cotton at the crotch almost allows you to bleed with freedom and no longer worry about your clothing. You are naturally sedentary, so being up in the saddle should be natural. The mount beneath you takes all this in stride. You pull the reins on her when you feel too much bleeding, as if the bit in her mouth, the bridle, acts as a ligation on your own backside that hugs the saddle as you squat rounding the bend. And your other body processes are squeezed off as you get deeper into the heat of the race. In fact, you forget the staining and imagine instead the prize. The beautiful girl at the end with her horseshoe of roses to drape round you in the winner’s circle. You feel beads of sweat forming as the elastic band hugs your waist. You bend lower on her, hug her neck, clasp her belly with your thighs, spur her on to keep up with the rest. So proud of her are you, the blond mane blowing in your face, the rich chestnuts, the stainless white teeth when she whinnies, pleased at her morning sugar cube she noses for in your pocket. You try not to notice the green bubbles, the alfalfa stains, and concentrate on the pink beauty of her lips and the gray of her velvety nostrils, those hot air vents that raise the temperature all around her. In fact, you are even half-attracted to the comforting warmth of her manure as the steam rises in the peaceful atmosphere of the stable. It makes you think of your white underwear, and her teeth playfully pulling at them, pacifying the fears you have about yourself. You always marveled at the continent types who could wear white pants. Though you’d have to admit you never got a close look at them, since the brightness always kept you away. How the whitest teeth and underwear come together always bemused you as you hug her. But the next moment you are being passed on the outside! “No one is going to pass us, girl!” She’s the prettiest, the fastest, you think, ever since you began wearing Jockey underwear, ever since you’ve starved yourself to settle atop of her, light as a feather, as if no one were there, only someone light-boned, barely attaining puberty, a wisp of a lad to give her all the added power she needs to keep up with the rest and surpass them down the stretch. She is being passed on the turn and you “giddyup” for all you are worth, lean into her, become one with her powerful withers, her haunches. Like the most beautiful suspension bridge her vertebrae enables you finally to travel to yourself. You don’t want to use your switch, but know she likes it from time to time to show that you are the master. She’s being passed and so you, bloody hemorrhoids aside, yellow stains aside, embrace her and kick her, dig down into her fur, putting out of your mind all thoughts of alfalfa gasses; your rowels prick her distended belly, her forelegs kick faster and her haunches pound the track numbing her to the pain in her sides. You don’t know if you are getting through to her, for she’s not yet making headway. Both horses for a moment seem at a standstill. The horse on the outside is now nosing further ahead. You kick her for dear life. You can feel the skin being scraped raw, breaking, the fissures deepening. The blood in your own backside is oozing through the cotton shorts. You can feel the stain spreading. Your shoes seem slippery, your legs wet with her body fluids. She too must be bleeding, yet you keep kicking her, hugging her closer. “Come on, girl, come on!” burying your face in her mane, like a tight fistful of lice you cling to her, hug her neck, her belly, until you are one magnificent galloping unit. “Flee, girl, flee,” you yell to her, champing down through her fur to her skin to draw blood. Love bites that’ll get you both to the finish line pop into mind! You’ll be embarrassed for her neck. Suddenly the strain, the tension atop her causes you to start to bleed faster, staining beyond your underwear. You imagine the saddle darkening, a pool of blood. She must only be a filly, so why are you putting her through all of this? Why does she have to win each time, why do you have to hug her so for your personal victory? What’s won? Why a jockey anyway? For another day of imaginary protection in soft white underwear? There is something lost about you in this underwear business, like Magritte and his jockey miles from a track racing through the woods. Why do you always have to end up with people cheering, nosing out the competition? Why can’t there be something grazing about wearing stainless white underwear? Something boll weevil, at least. Or a flower print instead of sordid stains on pure white, the fascist yellows, browns, reds that plague most all of us throughout the day with an unspeakable authority all their own. But the alternative travels in your blood and has you going into training, hidden in a camp in the Catskills in upstate New York with a whole entourage just when you are walking around on the street alone. You clench your fists over it, think of the lost protection of Jockey underwear. You are already sparring, worrying about the freedom between the legs, the dangling between jabs and uppercuts, the enormous vulnerability to low blows, not to mention the escaping body fluids. Where will they go when they trickle unhindered down your legs and are not absorbed by the soft cotton from Egypt? There will be no leather saddle to hide in for support, no belly to hug or kick to stabilize your own bloody backside. You will be alone on your own two feet before all those people. Not on a race track, but in a ring having to rely on your clenched fists and the lard on your chin, cheeks, and forehead to deflect blows, on the desperate whisperings of your trainer. At least you won’t be sitting, except for spells between rounds, and so the strain of bleeding should not affect you. The cuts on the opponent’s face will draw attention away from the stains. But you know the tight fists can’t be good. The sphincters will suffer after all, and you’ll have to relax eventually, continue the leaking yellow incontinence you’ve had all your life, the bubbly gases that escape from the foods you’ve eaten, so demonstrably visible underwater. In the end you prefer the saddle, even if Jockey underwear doesn’t let your anatomy breathe. Boxer shorts you fear will give you entirely too much freedom, not to mention the added strain from always having to duck to avoid punches. Want to read more? Order Krause's book today.
 BIRD DOG DAD’S SITTING NAKED at the kitchen table, covered only by a white lacy shawl. His forehead glistens with sweat and he stares out the window, pouting. He has the old floor vents on full blast, and I’m surprised he’s not dead from the heat. It’s a typical Santa Fé summer evening, still well into the eighties. I shut off the furnace and throw open a couple of windows. “Heater’s on again, Dad. It’s August. Remember?” “Get out of here, you bastard,” he says. “Dad, it’s me. Reynold. Your son.” He grabs the ends of the shawl and wraps it tighter around himself. He turns away from me and sticks up his nose. Today he’s Mercedes Madrid. She’s the mean one. “Come on, Dad, take that damn thing off.” “I’m waiting for José,” he says. “I’m not sure he’s coming. Now get up. Let’s get some pants on.” His gut has grown in the last year, rounder and lower, but his legs and arms are still skinny as ever. His years spent in tanning beds and under the high desert sun have kept him brown, though it’s turning grayish now. Ashy. “José said he’d be here at twelve noon. Damn him all to hell.” “There’s no José, Dad. Come on.” I reach for him. “What’s burning? And why does it smell like piss?” He has the Magic Chef cranked to 450. Inside, a pair of his white undershorts—one of the men’s garments he still wears—lies flat on the top rack, placed with care, the ends stretched out. They’re yellowed and just starting to smoke. “Why’d you put your damn shorts in the oven, Dad? Has Marjorie been here?” I twist the dial back, grab some tongs, and pull out the shorts. They smolder under cold water, and I fling open the window above the sink to let the stink out. Weeds poke up from the flower box that hangs on the windowsill where Steve’s petunias used to grow and where a spider has taken over. Dad hasn’t been outside in a while. It’s better if he stays indoors. His smug face makes me want to hurt him. It’s the same face he wore in court for his and Mom’s divorce. Steve, who back then we thought was only his best friend, waited outside the courtroom and turned away when Rob and I walked out, holding Mom. The way Steve went for Dad, helped him out of the building, everything made sense. “I’m drying my lingerie,” he says. “For my date.” “God damn it, Dad, this isn’t lingerie. You’re roasting your fucking underwear.” “Who are you?” I grab his shoulders and turn him toward me. His nakedness always shocks me. Marjorie calls more these days, needing my help. She can’t seem to do it alone, especially since he’s abandoned clothes. He’s slipped further since I was here last week. He’s more eight-year-old boy than eighty-two-year-old man. “Okay, Mercedes. Listen: there is no José, you are not going on a date, and you do not put your shorts in the oven to dry them.” He hums a tune I remember him singing when I was little. The words are something like, Johnny he’s a joker, he’s a bird. He doesn’t budge. I leave him there to find a robe and decide it’s time to fire Marjorie. I dial Rob. He’s never in the mood to talk about Dad, but maybe today he’ll have some sympathy. “It’s getting worse. Maybe we should put him in a facility.” I grab Dad’s robe from the hallway bathroom. “Whatever you say,” Rob says. “You do have a say in the matter.” “No, not really. You’re the executor,” Rob says. Rob holds onto the idea Dad loved me more. He teases me to this day about it, says I’m in charge because I was our fairy father’s favorite. Really, it was the state. Three years ago, APS called me after Mrs. Rogers next door called them. Steve had passed away the year before from a battle with lymphoma, and it wasn’t too long before Dad started to slip. The day I got the call, Dad had wrecked his shopping cart into Mrs. Rogers at Albertsons. He was in heels and screamed at her. The state later named me executor. That’s what I get for being four minutes older. “Why do you go through all the trouble, anyway? You’re not getting a dime of his money,” Rob says. “His money’s going to his care. He needs someone, Rob.” “Like I said: whatever you want to do is fine.” In the late part of the summer after Rob and I finished college, we sat for the last time as a family at the dinner table, but we didn’t eat. Mom and Dad told us they were getting a divorce. Mom’s face was a permanent purple from all the crying, and Rob was the only one who addressed the issue head on. He said he never wanted to speak to Dad again and had no love for a cheater, even though they hadn’t told us why, or if there was any cheating going on at all. Rob wished Dad a long lonely life, then he got up and left. That very second, everything fell on me. “Thanks for your input,” I say. “I’ll remember not to ask you again.” “You’re welcome,” Rob says. “How’s Barbara? The kids?” “Forget it.” After Dad and Steve moved in together later that same year, I put up a wall. I hated the situation for at least ten years and talked to Dad maybe three times. Mom’s heart disease accelerated and my attention went to her. When she died and we had to let everyone know, I finally figured it took too much energy to hold in all that anger. Dad showed up at the services. He hugged me. We cried. I began to visit him and Steve off and on after that. They got to know my wife, Barbara, and Dad was there when Trace was born. We felt something like a family again. In those rebuilding years, though, I still clutched to a tiny bit of rage—one last brick in my wall—for the new life Dad so easily took on. As I watch him slip away now, I can’t help but feel that brick still there—the interminable heaviness of it—and wonder if Rob hasn’t had the right idea all along. Dad’s still at the table looking out the window with the stupid shawl on and now he’s crying. I drape the robe around him. I debate roughing him up, or maybe just toying with him. When exactly does it cross over into abuse? “So, José stood you up again?” “Yes. Second time this week,” he says. His eyes have caved in and his cheeks sag more these days. From the side, he reminds me of Grandma Vásquez, his mother, when she was on her way out. She always had this combination of worry and apprehension in her eyes, as though someone was going to burst in and scare her. I never noticed how wide her forehead was until I saw it in her open casket. Dad’s forehead looks almost identical, but instead of the frizz job Hansen’s Mortuary did with Grandma’s hair, Dad’s bald. “Well, we’ll have to just call him and see what the holdup is.” “Don’t bother,” Dad says. “He’s a dog, anyway.” “What do you mean? A dog?” Dad looks at me with the Grandma face, and for a second I think he knows me again. “Who did you say you are?” “I’m Earl. Dr. Earl. Are you feeling okay, Mr. Madrid? Or is it Mrs. Madrid?” “I don’t need a doctor.” “Dad, it’s me. Your son.” “I don’t have a son.” “You have two. Twins. Let’s get up and get you to bed.” He shifts around in the chair and he leans forward, giving in. I lift him up, close his robe, and lead him down the hall. The place sparkles thanks to Marjorie, but every time I visit, something changes. Perfect rectangles of un-sun-bleached paint on blank walls mean he’s taken another picture down. Books end up in the bathtub; plates go tucked under the couch cushions. I found a set of forks in his old cowboy boots. In his room, a suit’s laid out on the bed. “Is this what you meant to wear today?” “That’s for José.” “Here, sit down. Where were you two headed?” “Mr. Steak.” Mr. Steak’s been closed for decades. It’s now a yoga studio. I remember the suit from a picture where he and Steve were dressed up for some formal event. They matched. “Let’s put it away until tomorrow, okay?” I hang the suit in his closet next to a row of dresses, closest to a maroon one. I slide the door shut, and his reflection in the mirrored panel stares back with the same pout. I want to push him, maybe slap him. I face him, feel that weight again, and tap the top of his shoulder instead. There’s an old yearbook open on his nightstand. Boys in white dinner jackets and black bow ties and girls with low black drapes from shoulder to shoulder, all of them with big hair, smile up at the ceiling. In the left margin, an autograph from a young man with a deep brow and slick hair says, “To Bird Dog: Don’t ever change. Keep in touch. —José.” I slam the book shut. Dad cries. “Why didn’t he come?” “I don’t know. Maybe he doesn’t love you anymore.” “What? Why?” Dad whimpers. “We’re going to have to take you somewhere soon, Dad. To a home.” “This is my home.” He looks around the room with the Grandma Vásquez face again, this time more lost. He pats around on the bed for something; looks back at me, eyes still damp. “Why did you stop loving me?” I know the man we used to call Dad is in there. The man that ran behind us, training wheels off. Same guy that talked to us about sex and girls and using our heads. My shoulders tense and his eyes dart away from mine. I look where he looks and see his reflection in the mirror again, and for just a second, I catch him. He hums the tune again. “Stop, Mercedes. Please.” “Get out of here.” He swats at me and I grab his wrist. I could break it with one twist. I lie his hand on his lap and turn toward his closet. I slide open the door and pull out the maroon dress and put it next to him. “Here. We need to get you ready. For José.” “Is he coming?” “Yes. He’s going to meet us at Mr. Steak.” BLACK ANGUS IS the closest thing to what Mr. Steak was. Probably a little brighter and cleaner. The hostess takes us to a quiet corner—my request—and I shake my head each time a staffer passes by and gives me the look. Our server, Manny, stutters on drink orders he’s so distracted. “He’ll have a Coke,” I say. “Water’s fine for me.” I cut Dad’s steak and feed him a few bites. He loves the mashed potatoes. Always has. For our sixteenth birthday, Mom and Dad dragged Rob and me to Mr. Steak. We really just wanted to be dropped off somewhere, like Pizza Hut or the mall, but they refused. When Rob’s steak ca me out, he cut into it like he was killing it. He tipped his plate on accident and the filet fell in his lap. We laughed so hard that Mom threw up a little bit in her mouth. After our dinner, Manny sets the Sky-High Mud Pie on the table and Dad looks right past it. He has forgotten he ordered it, the same way he forgot about José. Hasn’t mentioned him once since we sat down. Maybe I’ll take the dessert to go and put it in Dad’s Frigidaire, where he’ll find it the next day. Or not at all. I think today will be the last day he’ll use his kitchen appliances. He takes a sip of his soda on his own and leans back, resting his head on the high-backed, cushioned booth. He clasps his white-gloved hands over his protruding belly covered in satiny red fabric. He rests his eyes. I consider yanking off the matching pillbox hat tilting jauntily on his bald head. But I leave it. I’m the one who dressed him. It’s best to keep him—and me—calm as long as possible. I’ll never see him like this again. At a restaurant, on a date, dressed to kill. |
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