A Booklist review of The Long Meanwhile: Stories of Arrival and Departure, edited by Molly McQuade, features a nice mention of my work! I’m happy to see this collection get some more press. Here’s the review:

As editor McQuade states in her introduction to this short story collection, the 22 tales included all revolve around the theme of transition. They also contain some marvelously inventive writing, reflecting the editor’s belief that “the goal of writing or reading fiction is to imagine something not already known.”

Beth Tashery Shannon’s story sings the praises of the sowbug (“There it gos. Withall its toes, look at em wiggle like a narmadillo”) in an enchanting, made-up language. In “Downwind,” a reticent black housekeeper recounts her employer’s protracted death from cancer, describing the slow, sad march with a searing lyricism. And in “Love in a Changing Neighborhood,” two lonely, asocial people find within each other the wherewithal to make a wonderful life together despite what outward appearances might suggest.

The collection includes stories by well-known writers such as Alice McDermott and Lydia Davis as well as talented newcomers such as Anthony Varallo and Ellen Papazian. It also puts on rich display a wide variety of writing styles, from tender realism to disturbing metafiction. A real treat for language lovers. 

—Joanne Wilkinson

You can order The Long Meanwhile here.