The act of writing is very important in Awash in Talent, which is a novel made up of a journal required by a therapist, a young firestarter's secret diary, and a psychic therapist's case log. As I was finishing up the second section, Waterfire, I had an idea to explain where the manuscripts from that world populated with Talented people and those envious of them came from. I was going to frame the novel with the story of a down-on-his-luck Brown University professor stumbling onto a portal to another universe. In the end, I didn't use that text, but there may be a reference to a certain house on Atwells Ave in Providence at the end of Awash in Talent that has its origin in that idea.
That idea, in turn, came about because of the long drop awaiting anyone walking out this door on Atwells Avenue in Providence, Rhode Island. I took this photo way back in 2008.
In 2017, after Awash in Talent had been published, I took up the story of the dumb-luck professor in Providence as a kind of lifeline during the first year after my beloved husband passed away. The first part was well-received at the Tin House Summer Workshop that year, but it wasn't yet complete.
Four years later, the story has become a novella that undermines every expectation a reader might have, The Atwells Avenue Anomaly.
Here's the description and a first look at the cover (my newsletter subscribers got the first look):
A lonely English professor falls for a physics genius. His only chance to be with her might be in an alternate universe populated by flipper-footed birds and cats covered in rose petals. It's not only the low atmospheric oxygen that makes them lightheaded.
When the happy couple is separated by chance, the physics genius must raise their brainy daughter with no other humans to ask for advice. Are scientific curiosity and the memory of love enough for mother and daughter to create their own world?
In this unique novella, the author of Awash in Talent and Unpredictable Worlds brings you a fast science fantasy read about isolation and belonging the editors of Hybrid Fiction have called "sweet, imaginative," and "engaging."
The Atwells Avenue Anomaly will appear in ebook and paperback in August with exclusive illustrations by Shirley MacKenzie. Catch a small glimpse of the artistic wonders below.
A lonely English professor falls for a physics genius. His only chance to be with her might be in an alternate universe populated by flipper-footed birds and cats covered in rose petals. It's not only the low atmospheric oxygen that makes them lightheaded. When the happy couple is separated by chance, the physics genius must raise their brainy daughter with no other humans to ask for advice. Are scientific curiosity and the memory of love enough for mother and daughter to create their own world?
In this unique novella, the author of Awash in Talent and Unpredictable Worlds brings you a fast science fantasy read about isolation and belonging the editors of Hybrid Fiction have called "sweet, imaginative," and "engaging."
The Atwells Avenue Anomaly will appear in ebook and paperback in August with exclusive illustrations by Shirley MacKenzie. Catch a small glimpse of the artistic wonders below.
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| "Something of Monumental Proportions" by Shirley MacKenzie, 2021 Part of The Atwells Avenue Anomaly series. |
The Atwells Avenue Anomaly will debut at a low price so my devoted readers can save a few dollars. Don't miss it! Preorder here.
