Synopses & Reviews
Acclaimed essayist Steven Church reflects on work, fear and fatherhood in a series of encounters that defy easy answers. From the depths of a tourist-trap gold mine to the edges of a meteor crater to the jagged landscapes of marriage and parenting, shift and flux are always front and center. In his sixth book of nonfiction, Church illustrates once again the immeasurable value of an open, essayistic mind.
Review
"Steven Church explores his varied work history for rich stories about the fears and challenges of becoming a responsible adult, but ultimately it’s his heart, particularly when it comes to becoming a parent, that yields the greatest wealth. A powerful and deeply moving collection of essays that shows a writer working at the top of his craft." Jerald Walker, author of The World in Flames: A Black Boyhood in a White Supremacist Doomsday Cult
Review
"There's a moment in nearly every one of Steven Church's essays where the inner and outer world come together or come in conflict — a moment when what the essayist is thinking, the way he considers himself, changes, and he is left to confront something he didn't know was there. This is the power of I'm Just Getting to the Disturbing Part, Church's decision not to reveal himself so much as to let himself be revealed. In this collection, he takes us to his own dark places, writing about responsibility, to ourselves and to others, and what it means. His conclusion? That there is no secret, no magic incantation, just our day-to-day existence, which means that we are always figuring it out as we go along." David L. Ulin, author of Sidewalking and The Lost Art of Reading
Review
"An illuminating guided tour of the darker reaches of parental fears and anxieties. Steven Church is the everyperson essayist noticing and apprehending the fringes of existence, even when things don’t happen, or don’t happen the way he fears, and then scrutinizing them through his vigilant, agitated, and ultimately settling mind." Patrick Madden, author of Submlime Physick and Quotidiana
Review
"Steven Church is one of the bravest and fiercest essayists we’ve got. I’m Just Getting to the Disturbing Part made me think hard about the true nature of love, fatherhood, and fear. He takes us along road "whiskered in snow" and deep into the mineshafts where the heart’s confusions echo. I was stunned by the candor and eloquence of these pieces. I felt a lot less alone reading them. That’s what I’m always looking for in a book." Steve Almond, author of Bad Stories and Against Football
About the Author
Steven Church is the author of The Guinness Book of Me: a Memoir of Record, Theoretical Killings: Essays and Accidents, The Day After The Day After: My Atomic Angst, Ultrasonic: Essays and One with the Tiger: Sublime and Violent Encounters between Humans and Animals, released in Fall 2016 by Soft Skull Press. His next book, I'm Just Getting to the Disturbing Part: On Work, Fear, and Fatherhood, will be released in Spring 2018 from Outpost19. His essays have been published and anthologized widely. He is a Founding Editor and Nonfiction Editor for the nationally recognized literary magazine, The Normal School; and he Coordinates the residential MFA Program at Fresno State and teaches for the low-residency MFA Program at Sierra Nevada College.