Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
A teenage runaway and her mute brother seek salvation in houses, buses, the backseats of cars. Preteen girls dial up the ghosts of fat girls on ancient payphones. A crew of bomber pilots addresses the sparks of villagers below. In ways both otherworldly and routine, the characters of Dead Girls and Other Stories are on the run from their own stories, possessed by the things they cannot say.
With lyric artistry and emotional force, these stories dart across landscapes shaped by violence. Dead girls both real and fantastic appear again and again: as obsession, as threat, as cadavers on a table, as national myths and collective nightmares. Dead Girls and Other Stories won the 2017 Dzanc Books Short Story Collection Prize.
Synopsis
A teenage runaway and her mute brother seek salvation in houses, buses, the backseats of cars. Preteen girls dial up the ghosts of fat girls on ancient payphones. In Cambodia, four girls confuse themselves for the ghost of a dead reporter. A crew of bomber pilots addresses the sparks of villagers below. In ways both otherworldly and routine, the characters of Dead Girls and Other Stories are on the run from their own stories, possessed by the things they cannot say.
With lyric artistry and emotional force, these stories dart across landscapes shaped by violence, from the Khmer Rouge and Banaras, India, to the twisted streets of New York City. Dead girls both real and fantastic appear again and again: as obsession, as threat, as cadavers on a table, as national myths and collective nightmares. Dead Girls and Other Stories won the 2017 Dzanc Books Short Story Collection Prize.
Synopsis
With lyric artistry and emotional force, Emily Geminder's debut collection charts a vivid constellation of characters fleeing their own stories. A teenage runaway and her mute brother seek salvation in houses, buses, the backseats of cars. Preteen girls dial up the ghosts of fat girls. A crew of bomber pilots addresses the sparks of villagers below. In Cambodia, four young women confuse themselves with the ghost of a dead reporter. And from India to New York to Phnom Penh, dead girls both real and fantastic appear again and again: as obsession, as threat, as national myth and collective nightmare.
Synopsis
"Geminder's book showcases an acute sensitivity to worlds both inside and out. There's real delicacy to the craft but underneath all the skill is a shaking sense of purpose, and a great love of the brokenness and beauty of humanity. This is a substantive, memorable debut."
--Aimee Bender, author of The Color Master and The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake With lyric artistry and emotional force, Emily Geminder's debut collection charts a vivid constellation of characters fleeing their own stories. A teenage runaway and her mute brother seek salvation in houses, buses, the backseats of cars. Preteen girls dial up the ghosts of fat girls. A crew of bomber pilots addresses the sparks of villagers below. In Cambodia, four young women confuse themselves with the ghost of a dead reporter. And from India to New York to Phnom Penh, dead girls both real and fantastic appear again and again: as obsession, as threat, as national myth and collective nightmare.