Stressed as hell, listening to a gorgeous book as my way through.

aaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH holy damn, this book. Stayed up way too late reading to the end last night.

Laughs all the way through? Yep!

A single, tender cry on the last page? Yep!

It has been the SUMMER OF FABULOUS FIVE STAR BOOKS over here

Wait, can‘t believe I haven‘t posted this one yet! Gotten a LOT of reading done this summer and so far this is at the top of the list: tensely plotted, lyrically stunning, emotionally complicated, and one of the most stirring books I‘ve ever had the pleasure of encountering. an A+ literary thriller.

New library haul! Both of these have been on my TBR for a long time now. Excited!

I met Azareen at a reading a couple of years ago and she was really, really wonderful. Pulled this back out today—because when‘s a better time to read a surreal novella than *gestures wildly*

“To these upland woodsmen, the Devil is as real as you or I. More so; they have not seen us nor know that we exist, but the Devil they glimpse often in graveyards, those bleak and touching townships of the dead where the graves are marked with . . . small, votive offerings, little loaves, sometimes a cake that the bears come lumbering from the margins of the forest to snatch away.”

After 34 pages of paper writing in two days, the first year of my PhD is in the ~books~! It‘s time to tuck into this gem.

I read collections out of order; first I reread stories I‘ve already encountered, and then I read in order of most exciting title. I often don‘t make it to every single story.

How do you read story collections?

Saturday morning reading ☕️

I‘m thrilled to have a story in this anthology of revamped adventure tales, alongside @rachelsbrittain (my earliest writing partner and darling friend)!

Does a murdery, feminist King Kong retelling sound like your cup of tea? How about a swashbuckling alternate Frankenstein sequel PACKED with heart and badass ladies?

Featuring stories by Kirsty Logan, Gregory Maguire, and other amazing authors. I‘m so happy to be part of this project. ⚡️⚡️

Can‘t WAIT for my first PhD semester to be over, so I can dig into a few new reads. One of these will be first.

I can hear a quiet coffee shop and a giant cappuccino calling my name...

Recently had a Secret Santa-style book swap with my coworkers. I gave NIGHT SKY WITH EXIT WOUNDS and received THE MERMAID AND MRS. HANCOCK, which I can‘t wait to read!

Are there any books you‘re hoping to give or get this holiday season?

Oh my gosh! Portland Review nominated my short story “You and the Clarinetist” for a Pushcart, and it‘s in STELLAR company. Ahhh!!

I‘d bet the Venn Diagram of book lovers and scarf lovers is practically a circle.

What are books you‘d recommend to help welcome the chills and crunchy leaves?

“So much in life could go wrong—that was the thing you could go several decades of your life not understanding. Things could go wrong. And then they all did.”

I‘m *loving* this book. And the foggy midwestern weather over here helps! (bonus: see the ghost of my puppy in the window?)

I‘ve been thinking a lot about language and its relationship to detail and violence. Both The Paying Guests and Angela Carter‘s “The Bloody Chamber” depict violence and gore at a microscopic level of detail, but that close eye seems inextricable from the lush, twisty prose with which both stories are told.