Enlarging the Family: Tree/House and Unpredictable Worlds Now Available in Portuguese

It is my great pleasure to announce the ebook release of Casa na Árvore and Mundos Imprevisíveis, two of my most imaginative books, in Portuguese! 

My writing is heavily influenced by magical realism, which is an important literary trend all over Latin America. So I'm thrilled that Tree/House and Unpredictable Worlds are now available in the two dominant languages of Latin America, Spanish and now beautiful, poetic Portuguese. 

I've done 500 days of Duolingo in Portuguese and taken a fantastic trip through northern Portugal with a Spaniard. My skills in this marvelous language leave something to be desired.

But they've been translated by two up-and-coming translators, and I trust that these stories are just as complex and thought-provoking in Portuguese. 

More information about Casa na Árvore here.

More information about Mundos Imprevisíveis here. 

Announcing The Atwells Avenue Anomaly with Cover Reveal

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. 

"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.

A Celebration of Unpredictable Worlds, Now Also Known as Mundos impredecibles!

My newsletter subscribers have already heard this news, but I’m thrilled to announce here that my five-star-rated short story collection, Unpredictable Worlds, has been translated into Spanish.

English-speaking readers, please see below the Spanish text for the special way Unpredictable Worlds is celebrating the birth of its Spanish sibling.

El libro con rinocerontes, matrimonios felices, mujeres que encuentran su esencia fuerte, y las miradas más raras al mundo del trabajo ya está disponible para disfrutar en el idioma que dio origen al realismo mágico. Estoy rebosante de orgullo al anunciar la llegada al mundo de la traducción de Unpredictable Worlds al español: Mundos impredecibles.

Encontré a un joven promesa de traductor, Carlos Orlando Castaño Franco, que tiene un don lingüístico genial y ha sabido transformar mis textos más extraños con un estilo ajustado a cada relato. He mirado personalmente la traducción de este colombiano para asegurar un español internacional pero no por ello falto de personalidad.

Estos relatos, que son un reglo ideal para el lector a la búsqueda de lo diferente e impredecible, son disponibles ahora para los siguientes dispositivos:

Amazon.com * Amazon.es * Amazon.mx * Barnes & Noble * Apple * Kobo

Y muy pronto lo verás en Google Play, si es tu mercado preferido.

¡Celebra conmigo! ¡Hazte con tu ejemplar de Mundos impredecibles ya!

Una edición en tapa blanda está prevista para el año 2020, ¡que se acerca!

Seeing Unpredictable Worlds in Spanish makes me feel like celebrating! So for those of you who don’t yet have Unpredictable Worlds in Kindle yet, this is your opportunity! Get it 75% off for two weeks only, now through December 31. The new year will see the price go back up!

Nowhere else can you get so much zaniness for only 99 cents!

You might have 99 problems, but a source for strange stories will not be one!

Makes a perfect Christmas gift for that reader in your life eclectic tastes who you’re never sure has read a certain book yet or not. Trust me, they haven’t read this one yet.

Sale valid in equivalent currencies on all Amazon sites.

My publisher has also decided to end 2019 with a bang. Awash in Talent is only 99 cents in ebook for the month of December. The latest (5-star!) review says, “A great learning experience of perspectives and thought. Stories that explain real-world phobias. Excellent writing.”

Get the 75% discount on Amazon US, and you’ll be all set for some original reading in the New Year.

Here Be Unicorns: The Tin House Summer Workshop

I read my heart out in the splendor of the Oregon outdoors.
Photo by Laura Citino 

Last July was the worst in my personal history, and this July is giving me no reason to love it at home. I'd heard of the Tin House Summer Workshop for writers and decided to apply for it, not imagining I would be accepted, but hoping it could be a way to spruce up a rotten month if I somehow were able to attend.

I was accepted! I agonized over whether to attend for about an hour. In the end, I decided good things are few and far between and I must take these opportunities when they come. 

Am I glad I did. There are few things I would trade that week for. I learned so much about writing, I think I could teach it. I met some rock stars of the publishing world, and they were all good human beings—no egos darkened the week. Most secret and alchemical of all, putting so many writers together to work with each other creates a sense of belonging like I've never experienced. If you are a writer, do Tin House. Even if you never do another writerly community activity, apply and apply until you get in to this one. You won't regret it. 

The bookstore displayed a few of the faculty's magisterial titles. 

This summer, we enjoyed meeting and talking shop with stellar faculty: Margot Livesey, Saeed Jones, Danielle Evans, Karen Shepard, Renee Gladman, Joshua Ferris, Manuel Gonzales, Morgan Parker, James Hannaham, Naomi Jackson, Emily Witt, Jim Shepard, Claire Vaye Watkins, Roger Reeves, Kelly Link, Aimee Bender, Natalie Diaz, Anthony Doerr, Mat Johnson, Paul Lisicky, and Mary Ruefle. Additionally, there were agents and most of the editors of Tin House. Everyone took students' work seriously with naturalness and humility that make the world a wonderful place. They divulged their deepest writing secrets without prodding. We were all there for the same reason: to celebrate and create good writing. 

We were accompanied at all times by ravens. They scavenged during our outdoor meals and made portentous paths across the sky at the evening readings. For many, ravens are frightening, but for someone who's seen them up close at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, they're marvels of nature. Many and many a year ago, my old pal Eddie granted them a literary air that felt appropriate for the week. 

Visitors to campus that week got the impression
Oregon is a sunny, warm place. 

Word was that the janitorial staff hates Tin House week because the attendees are always drinking and getting locked out of their rooms. I did neither, but still had a rich, socio-psychologically complex time. I can only report on a fraction of what we packed into that week.

I'd already been deeply impressed with the quality of the other participants' stories as I read them in preparation for the week. I got the feeling I would be working with writers who were not only better than me (which is ideal in a workshop situation), but also were just as weird or weirder than me. Normally, I'm the only writer in a room who's heavily influenced by magical realism and worships the unexpected. I had trouble identifying the emotion that rose up within me when we all met for the first time—could it be a sense of belonging? I feel it so infrequently now that my true love is gone, it seems overly sentimental and out of place, but oh, if I find it again, I'll grab on and never let go! The workshop leader and I weren't the only published authors in the room, and yet everyone was there to listen and learn. Never stop learning. Never close yourself off to new ideas that could make you a better writer/person.

Manuel Gonzales gave a lively lecture
in which he mentioned both his unicorn story
and his friend Marie-Helene Bertino's unicorn story,
which won an O. Henry Prize. 

"Leave your preconceived notions about how a story should work at home," said our workshop leader during the orientation session. I chose to be in Manuel Gonzales's workshop because I'd read his short story collection, The Miniature Wife and Other Stories. I dared not dream the author of those crazy-beautiful creations would grant his proteges access to his mystical mastery of imagination, but I figured at least I would get to say we were in the same room for a while. 

During the orientation workshop, Tin House had everyone bring a paperback book they enjoyed in  a white elephant paperback exchange. Everyone's selection seemed unusual and exciting, demonstrating their eclectic tastes. Manuel Gonzales presented his book last and explained it was no used copy but something he bought specially. It was worth the wait—the lucky student to his left received The Princess Bride, which he admired for its humor and daring narrative techniques! A dopamine rush for at least this student! I knew then that I'd made the right choice.

Gonzales's dynamic reading convinced me to buy his novel, The Regional Office is Under Attack! In his masculine voice, I heard the fast-paced self-deprecation of his sassy young female protagonist. I can't wait to read it, especially after I heard a bit about the book's journey from idea to published novel. The lecture he gave, "In Particular, The Universal," discussed the way fine details help readers relate to the characters and story and take it as their own. He's often asked what his unicorn story is about. It's about a unicorn. It must be a real, physical unicorn before it can take on any further meaning. To take an example from Marie-Helene Bertino's O. Henry Prize–winning story, in order for her unicorn to symbolize inherited family burdens, we must first imagine what would happen if someone tried to transport a real unicorn in an SUV. (It would eat things it shouldn't and do its business everywhere. It's the writer's job to depict exactly what it ate and ruined and how—but only if it adds to the story.)  

Eleven other writers and I were lucky because we got to spend hours with Gonzales, while everyone else got only the short reading and hour-long lecture. He made it clear from the beginning that stories are serious business, and his critiques were jaw-droppingly perceptive, but he approached our work with a biting sense of humor and bone-dry delivery that had us laughing the entire two-and-a-half hours the workshop lasted every day. In the middle of the week, someone from a neighboring workshop came to the door to tell us to keep the noise down. "You can't keep us from loving each other," he retorted, though I'm not sure anyone else heard, because they'd already found the request so humorous. While I perceived straightforward love and tenderness in the other workshops, our atmosphere felt unique. Respect and equality were established among us with vigorous ribbing and creative antagonism no one else seemed to understand.

Our group dynamic followed a character arc I'm not at liberty to discuss here, but it involved a lot of cleverness, trivia night, and the O. Henry Prize. The well-earned finale was when, after the last workshop, one of the students returned from her individual consultation to tell us, "He said he really enjoyed working with us!" Hallelujah, amen. 

In other events of note, a mindfulness seminar run by none other than Aimee Bender's husband brought sanity to the beginning of each day. Writers being as crazy as any other artists, the seminar was an excellent idea I hope they bring back.

Last but not least, my true love was with me for all the ups and downs. He was perhaps most present when I attended Aimee Bender's reading and brought my hardcover of The Color Master for her to sign. I'd bought it when the book first came out, when Stanley and I were living in a hotel in North Carolina. The first edition has an embossed title that's a tactile delight, and Aimee greeted it like an old friend. I told her how Stanley and I had read all her books to each other, and I silently remembered the feel of the hard couch in the hotel and the bizarre futon we had during our lean Arizona years, and the way Stanley would tell me, with his heart-melting voice, his unique impression of each story as soon as I finished. Aimee wrote the lovely inscription pictured, and I retreated to my room so no one would see me weeping widow's tears.

Get more tangible details about this week at Drew Ciccolo's blog post. Takeaway: Always walk back from Safeway!

Thank you, Tin House and everyone who attended.

Awash in Support? What I've Learned from My Kindle Scout Campaign

It's down to the wire. Tomorrow is the last day to nominate Awash in Talent in the Kindle Scout program. The campaign ends at midnight EDT February 28/29, so if you're looking at this on Leap Year Day, you've missed your chance.

On Leap Year Day, I'll look at my final figures and keep my fingers crossed that someone at Kindle Press loves my dear unusual Awash in Talent enough to publish it on its own strengths and on the support I've been able to muster. Because although a high number of nominations is probably interesting to Kindle Press, the human beings who staff it have the final say as to whether they'll put the time and effort into ensuring any book's success. It's a great policy for quality assurance—I know as a publisher that we can't give our utmost to a book if we don't adore it. There's too much hard, annoying, nasty stuff that goes on behind the scenes of publishing. Without the love, it isn't worth it.

I'll also reflect on the things I've learned during the Kindle Scout campaign. During this grueling month of trying to get the word about Awash in Talent to the right readers, I've learned more than I can possibly express here. Some of it was technical, such as how to pin a Tweet to the top of your profile so it doesn't get lost in the all the retweeting support you're happy to do for other authors. Some of it was basic marketing, such as how a good book cover can keep a book trending, but it's got to already be trending, because people can't be drawn in by a cover they don't see.

Most importantly, I've learned that if you ask a person a favor, they won't do it for you unless there's some love between you. In the past, I've had some positive outcomes from going outside my comfort zone to ask for what I want. This time around, I asked a few media outlets to cover Awash in Talent's Kindle Scout campaign, outlets I thought might have an interest because they love Providence as much as I do. Mostly I got frozen out. The few I got responses from weren't willing to share the link because it felt like advertising. Is it advertising when you're looking for nonmonetary support? When you wish to share your enthusiasm for a place with people you think also might be enthused? I must not have offered enough benefit to these outlets. Because there's another side to the story.

This graphic, so helpful to an author's self-esteem, shows how many hours
the book was "Hot & Trending" each day through 2/16.

The first time Awash in Talent was "Hot & Trending," at the beginning of the campaign, was the direct result of an email I sent to an exclusive circle of about 30 people. All were either related to me by blood or love, or we had a mutually beneficial working relationship. Their support at this crucial time gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling I'm not accustomed to. They like me! They really like me! All I had to do was ask for their support and they gave it. Those are some endorphins!

I think there was quite a bit of helpful sharing going on from this group, but the only evidence I have is that my brother and brother-in-law mentioned me twice on their popular podcast (Episode 19, minute mark 13:22 and Episode 20, minute mark 13:56).

The Crazy Mind interviewed me and produced some scintillating conversation, too.

The second, even more spectacular, and apparently final spell of "Hot & Trending" was another direct result of asking for support. This time, the group I asked was my high school graduating class. I didn't expect the beautiful outpouring of faith, and it was beautiful. I'm so moved. I think perhaps the connection between human beings becomes really strong when you've spent hours and hours in a room together, as you do in school. The connection lasts a long time, too, because I'm not exactly a recent high school grad. I feel inspired to do a book event or two in my hometown area now, so I can be with my amazing supporters, and get some more endorphins.

I'm also doing that thing the publishing industry declares necessary for building a relationship with new readers: starting a newsletter. You can sign up for my newsletter by putting your email in the box at the top of this post or at this cute page. You likely won't receive anything for a month or two while I sort out the chaos of my writing life. When those rare messages finally come, you won't regret having signed up.

Just to remind you, midnight EST on February 28 is your last chance to nominate Awash in Talent. You'll think it's worthwhile if you like books with heartfelt, developed characters and unpredictable plots, Rhode Island and other exotic locations, fantastic powers, and realistic yearnings of the heart. Emily, Kelly, and Patricia are characters whose story demanded to be told, and who would love to meet all you wonderful readers in the published book.

If you haven't done it yet, you can still be my personal hero by nominating Awash in Talent or by sharing the link with readers you think might enjoy it via social media, email, phone calls, anything that works!

Whatever the outcome, I know I've done everything in my power. That doesn't stop the nerves, though! Thank you so much for going through this challenging experience in hope with me.

Awash in Talent: Get to Know Patricia the Psychic

Patricia is the narrator/heroine of the third and final novella in Awash in Talent (the novel YOU can bring to publication with the power of YOUR nomination!), Friendship Street.

You may know that in Providence, Friendship is literally a one-way street. Patricia understands this only too well. As a psychic, she has a deep understanding of everyone around her, and receives little to no reciprocation. It's lonely being a psychic because, in order to avoid the institutions and practices that may have killed her psychic father, Patricia has never revealed her Talent.

You might think being able to read your husband's mind is an advantage, but for Patricia, it's a burden. She realizes this too late and must figure out how to escape his controlling clutches, all while keeping the secret of her Talent and dealing with Emily, who is her most troublesome therapy client.

Like Emily, Patricia is a Californian. She came to Providence to do a post-doc and loved it so much that she stayed to set up her own therapy practice in a Victorian house she adores on the East Side, but which she can't afford without her new husband's help. Patricia takes on Emily's court-ordered case out of curiosity: she can't read Emily's thoughts, no matter how she tries. In contrast, everyone else assaults Patricia with a barrage of continual thought. She must solve this mystery without anyone finding out that she can read minds, and she must do this before Emily does something else drastic and illegal.

The cover for Friendship Street has an artist's conception of what thought might look like as it goes out into the world. To Patricia, I'm sorry to say, thoughts make more sense and are far less beautiful.

I'm proud to say Awash in Talent has made it into the podcast sphere. Have a listen to the Big Gay Fiction Podcast, episode 19! My charming and talented (although not Talented) brother and brother-in-law do me the honor of explaining the Kindle Scout program and mentioning my dear Awash in Talent at 13:23 – 14:01. And once again in Episode 20, minute 13:56, complete with a reading of the blurb!

More great news—The Crazy Mind (appropriately enough) has interviewed me on the Kindle Scout experience, how Emily's little sister started the whole thing, and all the great stuff you'll find in Awash in Talent. Check it out here.

Friendship Street, I'm told, is some of my best writing. In truth, I put my heart and soul into all of Awash in Talent, and it is my fondest hope that it will win a publishing contract with the Kindle Scout program. You, dear reader, can make all the difference in my publishing dreams. It's easy and fun to go to the link and click the "Nominate" button. Not only does it get you an exclusive, unique, free book, but also my sincere gratitude.

I'm sorry to say there's also a time limit on when you can do this wonderful, easy thing. It has to happen before February 29. Let's unite our forces before Leap Year Day! Thanks!

Awash in Talent: Get to Know Kelly the Firestarter

This, the day before Valentine's, is a great time to talk about WaterFire because, of the three novellas in Awash in Talent (the novel you can make sure gets published!), this one has the purest and most innocent concept of love.

Note, I didn't say it had a happy ending necessarily. It's just that the people in love are pretty new at it and are doing it without malice or manipulation, which can't be said about the other love stories in this novel.

WaterFire is the second novella and is narrated by Kelly, a pyrokinetic (firestarter) who's been placed in Providence's special school for her Talent after coming into her power in a surprising and destructive way. I imagine that's Kelly on the cover, sitting on the docks near the school and contemplating her fate as well as the beautiful city she loves but must escape from. The cover was created by Amygdala Designs and inspired the romantic scene in which Brian takes Kelly on a seemingly spontaneous date to WaterFire.

WaterFire is a real-life public art installation that Kelly appreciates and describes in detail in the novella. Check it out here.

Kelly's love, Brian, is another student at the school, which little by little is revealed to be nothing more than a lockdown facility to keep the frightening powers of the pyrokinetics out of the public arena. This is a problem because Kelly's mother is suffering in the burn ward at Mass General Hospital in Boston. Kelly finds out that Emily's sister might be able to heal her mother! How can she bring them together when no one trusts her to be able to control her Talent?

While the love story is a beautiful part of WaterFire, it doesn't define Kelly. She's too busy understanding her own power and trying to save her mother. I enjoyed writing about a teenager who has a lot of problems, but love isn't one.

You can read about Kelly's journey of emotional strength—and don't miss the underaged driving in the snow!—if Awash in Talent gets enough nominations in the Kindle Scout program to win publication. Everyone who nominates Awash in Talent before February 29 will receive an exclusive free early reader copy! Help me make my dream come true. I'll thank you for it.

See even more about Awash in Talent here.

Awash in Talent: Get to Know Emily, Sister of a Telekinetic Healer

Awash in Talent is a YA/NA contemporary paranormal novel in three novellas. You can help it be published by clicking the "Nominate" button at this link. Easy, free, and fun! Learn even more here.

Each novella in Awash in Talent will have its own cover. Hope & Benevolent, the first, foundational novella, called for a cover that reflects the preoccupation of the narrator, Emily, with early hominids, such as Australopithecus ramidus, one of the oldest fossilized primates who is considered to have a relationship to modern humans. It also illustrates Emily's tendency to keep reaching for what she wants, even when it's obvious to everyone else that it isn't going to work out.

I have a real-life friend whose name is Emily, and after she read "Unpredictable Factors in Human Obedience" in Unpredictable Worlds, she asked me, "Do you hate me?"

Simply because the narrator of that story is crazy or evil and has the same name she does? Not a chance.

When it came time to name the crazy and/or nefarious narrator of Hope & Benevolent, I made use of the name Emily again, for reasons lost to time (but probably related to author shorthand in character development!). I named her younger sister Beth, so in the end the sisters are named after the owner of Clifford, the Big Red Dog.

Emily's simple desire to be recognized for her own brilliance over her ridiculously Talented sister sends her across the country to Providence, Rhode Island, where she finds the love of her life. To be with him, and to spare herself a summer at home with her sister, Emily does a field study in Ethiopia. But even that's not far enough away to escape her sister. And that's when things really get complicated. You can read an excerpt that includes the astonishing incident in Ethiopia at the Kindle Scout campaign page.

Emily doesn't have the same limits to her ambition or her behavior we mere mortals do. Although at first she seems sassy and fun, in reality you probably wouldn't want her as your friend. She will obliterate anything that gets in her way, and she's not above committing what others would consider crimes. Imagining what Emily would do next, I thought about her goals and took possible actions far past their logical conclusions.

Emily is great fun to write. Far from hating my friend with the same name, I'm honoring her. Her name is now immortalized in a character who's so delightful to write, I can't imagine she'll be forgotten by readers any time soon.

At least that's my dearest authorial hope.

You'll be able to read Emily's incredible adventures in Hope & Benevolent and the third novella, Friendship Street, if enough readers nominate Awash in Talent for publication. Wish it luck!

Cover Reveal and the Beginnings of My YA Paranormal Adventure Set in Providence

It's the book with telekinesis, pyrokinesis, and psychic powers. Just as importantly, it's the novel with a field study in Ethiopia, a snowy trip to Boston, and the wonders of Waterfire in inimitable Providence, Rhode Island. It's Awash in Talent, and it's nearly ready to knock your literary socks off!

The amazing cover was created by Jasmine Green. It captures the female focus of the book and the way their Talents can make the characters feel, at the same time, invincible and about to drown.

I'm sharing the cover with you on the auspicious occasion of the beginning of Awash in Talent's Kindle Scout campaign. This is your opportunity to select Awash in Talent for publication by Kindle Press!

The link takes you a rather attractive page with the cover, the tag line (So much Talent can kill you.), an excerpt from the beginning through most of Chapter 2, a short bio, and three questions and answers about the book. It also shows a "Nominate" button. If you think Awash in Talent is worthy, all you have to do is click the "Nominate" button before February 29 (Leap Year Day!).

This simple act will get you three major benefits:

1. If Awash in Talent is chosen for publication (because you nominated it!), you will receive an exclusive edition of the novel for free before anyone can buy it! You'll be under no obligation to read it or to leave a review, although that's what Amazon (and I) will be hoping for.

2. You will have helped an author's dreams come true. How great will that feel?

3. You will be the proud owner of my gratitude. I will remember you when my writing career takes off. The value of this benefit is incalculable.

Here's a little more about the novel. At the link, you can also read an excerpt that introduces Emily's world. More beautiful graphics and descriptions are to come in the following weeks.

Emily can’t escape her annoyingly Talented telekinetic healer sister by going to a university 3000 miles away, in Providence, or even by doing a field study in Ethiopia. Why don’t people give credit where credit is due?

Kelly is forced to attend a pyrokinesis school/lockdown facility, but she must escape and bring Emily’s healer sister to Boston—her mother’s life depends on it.

Appointments with Emily might drive psychic therapist Patricia insane. Meanwhile, Patricia falls ever deeper into her husband’s selfish, cruel trap. In Providence, Friendship is a one-way street.

Awash in Talent is a novel in three interrelated novellas, all set in Providence, Rhode Island, where telekinetics, firestarters, and psychics attempt to function in a largely un-Talented society unappreciative of what they have to offer. Love/hate between sisters, mother and daughter, scared teenagers, a mismatched married couple, adult female friends, and an obsessive and the object of her affection are all put to the test.

The Kindle Scout campaign runs from now until midnight EST February 29. It's easy—just one click brings so much joy! Thank you so much for your consideration.

Like to Listen?

It's here! Every audiophile's dream. Tree/House, the strange little novella that inspires everyone who reads it, now comes to you via the lively professional talent of Melissa Moran.

It's available on iTunes, Audible, and Amazon. Click on the links to find compelling audio samples.

If I may say, it's priced very reasonably for this much imagination and creative talent (the voice artist's). And yet, there are a couple of ways you can get it for no money at all.

1. Contact me (in a comment here or at Facebook or Twitter) for a free download code from Audible! I would, of course, love it if you enjoyed Tree/House in audio and left a review after using one of the limited number of codes I have available. The important thing is to enjoy it.

2. Join Audible's first month free and make sure Tree/House is the first book you download. If you love audiobooks, you'll want to keep your subscription for only $14.95 a month. That charge includes one audiobook per month and 30% off additional ones. If you remain a member in good standing for 61 days (three months) after you get Tree/House as your first download, I get a special bounty payment. This is the option for you if you love to listen to books and want to give yourself (and me) an amazing gift.

Having Tree/House brought to life in this way has been a dream come true. I've personally listened to it all and am amazed at how well it's turned out. But it has cost me a significant amount of money to produce. Like everyone I know, I work very hard for the small amount of money I earn, so this was a big decision. I hope I have some avid reader supporters to help me get back my investment. Every download helps! Really. Thank you.

If you prefer to read it and interpret it for yourself, a new edition of Tree/House is also available in many electronic and print venues.
Kindle • iBooks • Nook • Kobo • Smashwords • Inktera • Blio • Many other ebook retailers • Softcover • Softcover Indiebound • Softcover Amazon •  Softcover Barnes and Noble • Request it at your local library or bookstore

Music to Your Literary Ears

As you know, this week (Friday) will see the release you've been waiting for of the new edition of Tree/House and Unpredictable Worlds in all formats.

But the most wonderful news has been years in the making. In 2011, a reader on Goodreads asked me if Tree/House was available in audiobook. I knew it was a great idea, but it just wasn't the right time. Now, it's the right time! Through the magic of the internet, I've been able to find the perfect narrator for Tree/House. Her name is Melissa Moran and she's hard at work finalizing the audio files now! I've heard the proofs, and I can't describe how exciting it is to hear this crazy, heartfelt story out loud. Melissa really makes the characters come to life.

The audiobook will be available very soon. It will make a great holiday gift...

Tree/House is now available in Kindle and Nook and in Softcover, Softcover at Indiebound, Softcover at Amazon,  Softcover at Barnes and Noble, and you can request it at your local library or bookstore. Many other ebook sites will have it on November 20. Preorders are available at Apple iBooks and Kobo. Buy it now and on November 20, it will magically appear!

At first, Unpredictable Worlds was in Softcover, Softcover at Indiebound,  Softcover at Amazon, and Softcover at Barnes and Noble, but only in Kindle for ebooks. Now, it's ready for you on Nook! Those amazing preorders are being taken at Apple iBooks and Kobo, so you have something downloading to your device while you're waiting for the next showing of the final Hunger Games movie on November 20. Many other retailers will have it on November 20. If you feel like shopping at your favorite ebook retailer, it will be waiting for you!

A lovely surprise: Five-Star Review of Unpredictable Worlds

Well darn. I've had to modify the cover of Unpredictable Worlds. What terrible inconvenience has led to this drastic measure? A five-star review at Readers' Favorite (which, in truth, is the best thing in the world for a writer!).

Any review is a big deal for me. A five-star recommendation from this lovely institution includes a peachy-keen silvery sticker to put on the book's cover.

A wonderful alchemy of words and circumstances collided to find just the right reviewer. Amazingly, Carine Engelbrecht "got" the book. Read it in full here, and see two major highlights here:

For a collection of stories that stray delightfully off the beaten track of cookie cutter characters and plot lines without any roadside surprises, you can do a lot worse than venturing around inside Unpredictable Worlds: Stories by Jessica Knauss. While the stories are widely divergent, they are grouped around a series of themes that serve like hubs for the author's imagination to take off....

I enjoyed taking a trip through the author's imagination—that is exactly what Unpredictable Worlds: Stories by Jessica Knauss was, a journey of wonder. 

I'm impressed that the reviewer loves the rhino stories. I've started a rhino novel, but since I didn't know how I would find people who both love to read fiction and find out about rhinos, I abandoned that idea. This review gives me hope and the idea to maybe resurrect it as a shorter piece.

I get a particular frisson of authorial delight when the reviewer singles out some stories that never found a home before I published them in Unpredictable Worlds. Many of the stories in this book have been published elsewhere, and therefore had that outside validation any writer seeks. It's music to my heart that a reader I've never met is reading and enjoying stories that mean the world to me, but haven't made an obvious impression on anyone else before this point. Calling "Threads Woven" "a rich tapestry of creativity and character" when it's had no other feedback (other than form rejection letters)—I wonder if any reader knows how easy it is to give an author the ultimate gift. It goes to show: you never know who is going to respond to which story.

It's nothing short of wonderful that the reviewer points out the relationship between some of the stories. True interaction with my texts. I couldn't ask for more.

So here's that new cover, proudly displaying the shiny five-star badge. Plans to make the ebook available in venues other than Amazon have been in the works for a while now. Find your updates here!

The Raves are Trickling In...

Unpredictable Worlds has been out for a month. It's still a youngling, fresh faced to the world! It has two reviews at Amazon, both of which give me indescribable joy as an author. 

For example, one review summarizes what the stories do:

"They explore the person's deepest interior, their secret wishes that can become worst nightmares or frustrations that lead to a downfall. In all, the world is not quite what the reader expects and through it the reader's own idea of the world and what is possible can be challenged. Fascinating."

I couldn't have described my aims as a writer better myself! 

The other reviewer compares me to some of the finest storytellers of all time and then offers this gem:

"Jessica Knauss finds the deeply disturbing and scary in ordinary situations and everyday life. When she starts, all is as normal as reaching for your morning coffee, but before you're half way through, it's a whole other story—one that should make the hair on the back of your neck stand up."

I just love challenging the reader's expectations. I'm most entertained when I read unpredictable stories, so I aspire to bring that experience to my readers, too. I'm pleased beyond measure that these two readers understand.

I know both of these readers. The first is the author of many wonderful and unusual novels, Kristin Gleeson, and the second is the author of the best fantasy series of the new millennium (The Astreya Trilogy), Seymour Hamilton.

Someday, I do hope to have a review from someone I haven't already established a great relationship with. Let me know if you'd like a review copy! Unpredictable Worlds is available on NetGalley.

Unpredictable Worlds is Here

It's out! If you preordered the ebook, you can already enjoy these zany yet heartfelt stories. You still have a few hours to get it for only 99 cents while the network catches up... And the softcover is ready for not much money here and here.

Celebrate with a great interview at Kristin Gleeson's blog! Thanks again to Kristin, the author of some wonderful books, for asking fun, in-depth questions.

Five other amazing stops on the blog tour are all linked up for you here.

Let me know how you like the stories. More to come...

Cover Reveal: New Amazing Book of Stories Ready for Bargain Pre-Order

It's almost here. Unpredictable Worlds releases May 15!

If you've ever despaired that my published and prize-winning fiction is all over the web, in no single place, and that I have many more stories to amaze you with, but they haven't been picked up yet, despair no more! Unpredictable Worlds has it all, and more!

The synopsis:

A teacher controls her students with an edible microchip. A reporter turns into a rhinoceros. A couple's efforts to eat local go frighteningly awry. If you're looking to be surprised, puzzled, or just plain entertained, pick up this omnibus. There's something for everyone! 

More than twenty years in the making, Unpredictable Worlds contains all of Jessica Knauss’s published and prize-winning short fiction as of March 2015 and a few of her best stories never before seen in print or ebook. Zany plots and outrageous characters will stretch your belief and tug at your heart. 

WARNING: These stories contain exaggeration, elision, and disregard for “the real world.” Some even exhibit a tone of blatant optimism. However, they respect human speech patterns, admire good grammar, and hold proper punctuation in the highest regard. 

Enjoy!

The cover features details from a French painting that dominates one of the galleries at the Worcester Art Museum. I find the turbulence and the barely visible hand reaching out of the water disturbing. I hope it captures the vaguely unsettling nature of many of the stories in Unpredictable Worlds.

Unpredictable Worlds releases for Kindle on May 15 with a softcover edition to follow. Seem too far in the future? It isn't so far when you consider this: Unpredictable Worlds is already available for preorder for only 99 cents. Once it's out there in the world, the price will go up, so save at least 66% now and have this strangely amazing book delivered to your device on release day.

Review: Mermaids in Paradise by Lydia Millet

Lydia Millet’s trilogy that began with How the Dead Dream and ended with Magnificence has an astounding authorial voice with a knack for choosing the right words and at the same time, it adapts to her chosen protagonist’s thought patterns. Mermaids in Paradise, ostensibly fluffier, continues to display Millet’s versatility with a narrator who starts out unsympathetic although comical. As the book goes on, Deb, a new bride on a Caribbean honeymoon with her perfect husband, is drawn into the events and sloughs off the defensive sarcasm she’s learned from her best friend, showing some of her depth and becoming easier to sympathize with.

The plot, too, seems distant and standard for some time. The eventual introduction of the mermaids stands out for the magical description of Deb’s experience, but larger society’s reaction to the mermaids is on the zanier end of predictable.

Then the climax hits like a ton of bricks, giving meaning to the entire novel. I adored the way the mermaids were saved from exploitation. Deb rhapsodizes about the progression of humans from Australopithecines to Homo sapiens, figuring that nothing much happened for five million years, but then came speaking, and then writing, and here we are today, with all the destruction that the technology made possible by writing has wrought.

My takeaway, influenced by the amazing whale-filled climax (and the rash of end-of-civilization literature I’ve been exposed to, no doubt), is that people must not assume we can or should control the natural world. We are part of nature, not separate from it.

And then another unforeseen revelation hits like two tons of bricks, giving another meaning to the novel. Deb could possibly arrive at my takeaway even with this last surprise, but, drugged up after some injuries, she just kind of gives it an “oh well,” which returns us to the meaninglessness of the beginning. Devastating, in typical Millet style. I've seen complaints about the ending, and I assume it's this last-page shocker that bothers others. I don't think it could be a Millet novel without the rug being pulled out from under the reader. The phenomenon fascinates me but turns others off.

Make no mistake: Mermaids in Paradise is a complex novel with incredible expertise behind it. All that and mermaids (and whales!), too!

Novels I've Read in 2015:

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Along the Far Shores by Kristin Gleeson

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

A Kiss at Kihali by Ruth Harris