Books by Friends 2023: “Friends With Book Benefits” Edition

Happy December, everyone!

It’s that time again, my prolific and brilliant friends! Because if you’re going to gift books, why not gift books by friends?

This year I have prioritized (just for the sake of numbers!) those books and friends I have worked with in 2023…which STILL clocks in at 27 books (and I’ve probably forgotten some)!

Here we go…

Books By Friends 2023 Edition:
Friends With Book Benefits

(I’ve tried to include the publisher or author’s direct link if available)

P.S. The majority of these books were released in 2023–a few of them were missed from my last year’s list and/or only discovered by me in 2023. Thanks to everyone who sent me their books!

(in no particular order)

Rob Geisen: I Don’t Think This Is Going to Help
Legendary Boulder poet Rob Geisen (A.K.A. Get in the Car, Helen) is back with his first collection of poetry in 13 years! That’s how it is when Helen leaves you; it takes at least a decade and change to get your shit out into the world again. And that is what “I Don’t Think This is Going to Help” is about – failing to get over someone. Rob disregards the traditional stages of grief and comes up with his own, like holing up in the bunker, writing his ass off, and making a shitload of pop culture references. From King Kong to Taylor Swift to Jeff Beck to the Hallmark Channel. Will his prediction that nothing’s gonna help prove true or do glimmers of hope and healing inevitably emerge despite ourselves?

Grant Faulkner: The Art of Brevity: Crafting the Very Short Story
With increased compression, every word, every sentence matters more. A writer must learn how to form narratives around caesuras and crevices instead of strings of connections, to move a story through the symbolic weight of images, to master the power of suggestion. With elegant prose, deep readings of other writers, and scaffolded writing exercises, The Art of Brevity takes the reader on a lyrical exploration of compact storytelling, guiding readers to heighten their awareness of not only what appears on the page but also what doesn’t.

Paul Beckman: Becoming Mirsky
“Finally a Mirsky book! I’ve loved Mirksy since he first appeared in Paul Beckman’s work, and in this collection Mirsky gets to rightfully shine, coming of age with paper routes, Devil dogs, pinball, bullies, absent fathers, Jewish mothers, Kosher Soap, and the inevitable disappointments and salvations of any survived childhood, especially one set in the big city projects of America. In Becoming Mirsky, we traverse the full range of Beckman’s talents-the ironic, the asinine, and the wonderfully ridiculous, yes, but also the difficult, the poignant, and the downright tragic. I’m not sure if I love Beckman or Mirsky more, but I’m thrilled to indulge both here.”

James Thomas, Sherrie Flick and John Dufresne (editors):
Flash Fiction America
It has been more than thirty years since the term “flash fiction” was first coined, perfectly describing the power in the brevity of these stories, each under 1,000 words. Since then, the form has taken hold in the American imagination. The 73 stories collected here speak to the diversity of the American experience and range from the experimental to the narrative, from the whimsical to the gritty. Featuring fiction from writers both established and new, including Aimee Bender, K-Ming Chang, Bonnie Jo Campbell, Bryan Washington, Robert Scotellaro, and Luis Alberto Urrea, Flash Fiction America is a brilliant collection, radiating creativity and bringing together some of the most compelling and exciting contemporary writers in the United States.

Gloria Mindock: Grief Touched the Sky
These stark, candid, and radiant poems in Gloria Mindock’s new collection give shape and space to voices lifted from the clutter and clamor that is the matrix of war. The war is upon us now, but poets forever have sung such lamentations and haunted us all too often throughout history. One thinks of Homer, Wilfred Owen, and Carolyn Forche. A fierce and generous tenderness and enviable humanity ungirds these unflinching poems. Mindock’s is the voice we need to hear at this very moment.

Betty Joyce Nash: Everybody Here is Kin
On Boneyard Island, Georgia, where everyone’s weirdly kin, 13-year-old Lucille is marooned when her mother goes AWOL with an old flame, leaving Lucille with only her father’s ashes, two half-siblings, and Will, the misanthropic manager of the island’s only motel. The abandonment kills hope of Lucille’s promised snorkeling trip to the Florida Reef before ocean heat kills the coral and illusions she’s harbored about her mother’s sanity. Everybody Here Is Kin explores the lives of this sinking family, the island community, and fears of exposing wounds, old and new, when natural disaster forces them to trust, and depend on, strangers.

Katherine DiBella Seluja: Point of Entry
In this remarkable collection, Katherine DiBella Seluja explores issues surrounding human migration, juxtaposing poems about the current struggles along the US-Mexican border with her ancestors’ experiences of migrating from Italy. Rich in sonic and sensory detail, these poems speak to the strength and resilience of those who leave their ancestral homes in search of safety and opportunities to thrive.

Laurie Marshall: Proof of Life
Proof of Life examines small moments in the lives of normal people who struggle with the same foibles and baggage we all possess. This focus on human interaction–the things people do for and to one another–captures the human condition in stark contrasts and in every shade of gray. By exploring characters’ emotions and behaviors within the context of recognizable themes such as grief, escapism, disappointment, regret, despair, and brokenness, these tiny stories illuminate lessons in living and challenge us to look more deeply into ourselves. In Proof of Life we find ourselves asking Big Questions: Can we really trust and depend on others? On ourselves?

Tara Lynn Masih: This Is How We Disappear
Masih offers readers transporting and compelling stories of those taken, those missing, and those neither here nor gone—runaways, exiles, wanderers, ghosts, even the elusive Dame Agatha Christie. From the remote Siberian taiga to the harsh American frontier, from rural Long Island to postwar Belgium, Masih’s characters are diverse in identity and circumstance, defying the burden of erasure by disappearing into or emerging from physical and emotional landscapes. Described as “masterful” and as “striking and resonant” (Publishers Weekly), Masih’s fiction, crossing boundaries between historical and contemporary, sparks with awareness that nothing and no one is ever gone for good—and that the wilderness is never quite behind us.

Tina Carlson: A Guide to Tongue Tie Surgery
A Guide to Tongue Tie Surgery gives voice to abused children, murdered women, research animals, war veterans, and even metronomes and lampshades. In poems inspired by Ovid, Tina Carlson explores the roots of voicelessness and journeys into metamorphosis, granting speech to those ignored or victimized and thereby allowing them to provide witness to their own lives.

Francine Witte: Just Outside the Tunnel of Love
“The stories in Francine Witte’s Just Outside the Tunnel of Love deftly skirt the boring center of love and instead poke and prod at the before and after of what it means to fall into and out of … everything. She takes on the smash and smoosh and broken eggs of love. The language in this collection is exquisite and playful and mournful and sexy. Witte has mastered the short form. Pull up a chair.”

Vanessa Gebbie: 51 and a Half: Games and Ideas for Writers
This book is a ‘must get’ for every writer who’s got stuck, wants to kickstart their inner creativity and have fun doing it. Joining Vanessa’s workshops was the best investment to grow my writing confidence and the creative games pushed me to achieve top marks in my writing degree and get published. Join in and see where it takes you!

Tameca Coleman (Meca’Ayo): an identity polyptych
an identity polyptych is a multi-part, multi-genre work that explores familial estrangement, identity as a mixed-race Black person, and movement towards reconciliation. It can be considered a memoir. The book works to find an impossible peace as it relies on the trickiness of memory, the effects of trauma, the necessity and constant work of healing, and the unfulfilled wish to feel a true sense of belonging.

Jolene Mcllwain: Sidle Creek
In Sidle Creek, McIlwain skillfully interrogates the myths and stereotypes of the mining, mill, and farming towns where she grew up. With stories that take place in diners and dive bars, town halls and bait shops, McIlwain’s writing explores themes of class, work, health, and trauma, and the unexpected human connections of small, close-knit communities. All the while, the wild beauty of the natural world weaves its way in, a source of the town’s livelihood – and vulnerable to natural resource exploitation. With an alchemic blend of taut prose, gorgeous imagery, and deep sensitivity for all of the living beings within its pages, Sidle Creek will sit snugly on bookshelves between Annie Proulx, Joy Williams, and Louise Erdrich.

Audra Kerr Brown: Hush Hush Hush
Reading Audra Kerr Brown is a stunning, beautifully-grotesque experience. Much like O’Connor, Kerr Brown’s writing is like gazing upon humanity through a window. She at once eviscerates us by illuminating, with subtle, quiet prose, her characters’ vulnerabilities, dysfunctions, and damned choices, and then, in turn, uplifts us with the hope she offers by presenting her characters with opportunities to overcome the consequences of their ill-fated lives. In her debut collection, hush hush hush, every story is a tight, well-constructed narrative that makes the reader’s heart race and cry and rejoice. In darkness, there is light. In fire, there is rebirth. In Audra Kerr Brown’s hush hush hush, there is brilliance.

Myna Chang: The Potential of Radio and Rain
“These are vividly realized, beautifully nuanced stories, so sensory that I swear I could taste the dust scuffed up by a passing car, feel the sweet ache of cold well water in my throat. I can’t remember when I’ve been this excited by a chapbook, can’t remember the last time I came to the end only to turn back to the beginning to savor these stories all over again.”

Tania Hershman (editor): Fuel
Between the covers of this unique, diverse and surprising anthology, edited by Tania Hershman, are 75 short short stories or flash fictions that have won first prize in flash fiction contests around the world. Stories in all shapes, genres and voices; stories encapsulated in one paragraph or unfolding over several pages; stories told in one breathless sentence or in numbered sections; stories as letter, as play, as internet search results; stories that will leave you wondering how whole worlds can be created in such small spaces. Dip in and discover that there is no “formula” for a winning story, there are at least 75 different ways to seize a competition judge’s attention and never let it go.

Niles Reddick: If Not for You and Other Stories
“Niles Reddick combines wit, folksy wisdom, and terrific storytelling. His authentic voice has so much charm and likeability, you just want to read and keep reading. He touches on all kinds of situations from parallel parking, to haunted springs, to cheesecake at Juniors. A variety of voices and moods, sometimes light, sometimes poignant, but always down to earth and oh-so-easy. This is one terrific read.”

Mark Pearce: Specimens Under Glass
An anthology of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry written by Mark Pearce which has appeared in over 50 literary journals in the United States, England, and Canada, including two Pushcart Prize nominees and Winner of the Granfalloon magazine “Story of the Year.”

Stepahie Carty: Inside Fictional Minds
‘An invaluable guide to creating authentic characters by peeling back the layers and searching for the ‘why’ that lies behind all our actions. I have really enjoyed applying psychological theory to creative intuition, led by Stephanie’s accessible approach to creating believable, motivated characters.’

Randall Brown (editor): Healing Visions
“Stunning photographs paired with brief prose vignettes from 52 talented writers explore the theme of healing in this vibrant, gorgeous collection. …The prose pieces vary widely in tone, style, and impact, but each is well crafted, vivid, and precise. …The images are equally vivid and carefully crafted. …In all, this is a stirring volume to be savored and returned to, kept close at hand. Profits benefit groups supporting women’s rights, making this coffee-table showpiece an even wiser investment.”

Andrew Stancek: Saying Goodbye
A year in the life of a six-year-old Slovak boy being brought up by his grandparents in Soviet-era Czechoslovakia. In this flash story of childhood and self-discovery, filled with heartbreak and joy, betrayal and love, Adam must invent who he will become. Saying Goodbye is the story of a family reckoning with loss, loyalty, disappointment, devotion, and at the center our narrator, a child as unforgettable as any Dickens hero. Abandoned by his mother, rescued by tenderness, he loses his innocence and finds his courage in a world both unapologetic and lit with the fiercest sort of love. This gorgeous story will break your heart open.

Brad Rose: Lucky Animals
“In Lucky Animals Brad Rose shakes things up with his supple, wild, and wise prose poems. No grass grows under one’s feet here, and yawns do not exist. These wry and wonderful excursions turn on a dime and jump the tracks into previously unexplored, unanticipated lands. Here is a master wordsmith with hot hands on the wheel.”

Robert Vaughan (editor): Get Bent
Get Bent, the second anthology from our online lit mag and writing programs, is full of innovative, hybrid, stunning work from over 45 writers. Taking its title from the Broadway play, this collection is an array of unusual work from some of the best writers of today.

Meg Tuite: Three by Tuite
Cowboy Jamboree Press is proud to present, now back in print, 3 outstanding works from Meg Tuite: the chapbook Her Skin is a Costume, the novel Domestic Apparitions, and the short story collection Bound by Blue. “Meg Tuite writes these stories like secret storms. You won’t notice until after how wrecked the lawn of your brain has become, as these stories sneak up and roll over you in the best way. Tuite’s characters are the bravest frightened animals, caught out in a bright light—their beautiful, terrible choices exposed and devastating.”

Sabrina Orah Mark: Happily
Set against the backdrop of political upheaval, viral plague, social protest, and climate change, Mark locates the magic in the mundane and illuminates the surreality of life as we know it today. She grapples with a loss of innocence in “Sorry, Peter Pan, We’re Over You,” when her son decides he would rather dress up as Martin Luther King, Jr., than Peter Pan for Halloween. In “The Evil Stepmother,” Mark finds unlikely communion with wicked wives and examines the roots of their bad reputation. And in “Rapunzel, Draft One Thousand,” the hunt for a wigmaker in a time of unprecedented civil unrest forces Mark to finally confront her sister’s cancer diagnosis and the stories we tell ourselves to get by. Revelatory, whimsical, and utterly inspired, Happily is a testament to the singularity of Sabrina Orah Mark’s voice and the power of the fantastical to reveal essential truths about life, love, and the meaning of family.

Chelsea Stickle: Everything’s Changing
Everything is changing in towns across the United States. What we think we know is wrong. Animals have gone wild. Myths and fairytales are upended. Women’s bodies are growing weapon appendages. Nothing is certain anymore. The stories we tell ourselves are shifting. Everything’s Changing is a chapbook full of everyday magic, transformations, chaos, and coming to terms with the world as it is and how we want it to be.

Sarah Freleigh: A Brief Natural History of Women
In A Brief Natural History of Women, Sarah Freligh’s girls and women grieve, rant, stumble and topple, pour each other shots, desert each other, catch each other mid-fall; they are in equal parts desperate and resilient, weary and philosophical. “How we’ll wish we could unzip ourselves and wear the dull side out,” one girl opines. This is a dazzling, acute, spiky book by one of the best flash fiction authors writing today.

AND….
Nancy Stohlman: After the Rapture
After the Rapture is a flash fiction hybrid book written at the intersection between flash fiction and the novel. A leader and innovator of the form, Stohlman fragments the long form narrative into the distilled intensity of micro and compressed fiction while still maintaining a larger story arc. In this world of Walmarts, Barbies, Kens, orgies/time-shares, 7-11s, clones, a red Lake Michigan, and dreams, Nancy Stohlman’s humor and talent shines. The rapture becomes more than just a rapture: it’s a world turning on its head, acceptance, and then finding a new normal. Redeeming and heart-felt, this dystopian novel-in-flashes is one not to forget. After the Rapture is a rapture!

P.S. This is an ever-evolving list, and I’m bound to have forgotten someone! If there’s someone that should be on this list next year, please let me know! xoxo

Congratulations, everyone!!

Dream together in 2024?
Creative Vision Casting

a special 90-minute workshop and strategy session to envision and implement a year of creative clarity, confidence, and courage

Friday, January 12 at 11 am MST via Zoom

50% off until December 31!

And…what about a gift for yourself?

2024 Flash Fiction Retreats announced!

If you’re a flash fiction writer who’s longing for a new creative spark, an adventure to energize your spirit, and camaraderie with your creative community, then join us in 2024!

Registrations opens in January–get on early notification list