In this delightful collection of prize-winning stories, queer, gender-nonconforming, and trans characters struggle to find love and forgiveness, despite their sometimes comic, sometimes tragic mistakes. With insight and compassion, debut author Conklin reveals both the dark and lovable sides of their characters, resulting in stories that make you laugh and wince, sometimes at the same time.
Featured Interviews
Queer Fiction Writers:
Comprehension, If Not Closure: A Conversation with Riley Redgate
by Nathan Winer
Learning to separate your own interests away from those feelings of, “I should be more like this, I should be more like that”—that’s going to be valuable forever. And not just in writing.
Minnesota Women Writers in Short Fiction:
Darci Schummer interviewed by Raki Kopernik
Raw talent is not necessarily a predictor of success. However, engaging regularly in your practice, listening openly to critiques of your work, and not allowing rejection to deter you will all help you succeed.
Underwater Storytelling
an Interview with Kelly Gray and Meredith Johnson
In thinking about privacy, I try to be brave with a small dose of disassociation thrown in for good measure.
A Conversation with Quan Barry
by Nathan Winer
“There’s a… freedom allowed you in poetry. And I trust that, even if I can’t explain it. It bleeds into my fiction, in many ways.”
An interview with Eric Boyd
by Kirk Sever
“I find a lot of comfort in nihilism.” Eric Boyd on David Bowie, black and white films, and the end of the world.
Stories Refresh the American Language:
An Interview with John Freeman
by Cal Shook
I grew up reading short stories by writers from the 1950s and 1960s and loving them: Eudora Welty, James Baldwin, J.D. Salinger.
Spitting Image: An Interview with Heather C. Sweeney
by Katherine Fallon
It’s more of a multifaceted imagined “I,” not just me speaking to one person. It’s thinking about my multiple selves and how we contain all these layers and perform different “I”s in this world.
Articulating the Inarticulable: An Interview with Kayleb Rae Candrilli on their latest collection Water I Won’t Touch
by Robin Gow
I want to find ways to connect what maybe seems unrelated, until they are tied inexorably in the world of the poem or the book.
Women Writers in Indie Publishing:
Alissa Hattman Interviewed by Raki Kopernik
Share your work and allow yourself to be vulnerable, risking something on every page.
