So. Yes. Apparently I published some new material in English. After seven years. Last week.
Pardon my nonchalance -- I would have definitely warned you this was coming had I been certain it was coming, but the process wasn't exactly smooth, and my mind too, I confess, was somewhere else. I get so easily distracted from work these days. I wonder why.
Anyway! The Kids Will Be Alright is a collection of four short stories with an emphasis on panic, gays, and jokes. You know--my brand. It is an audiobook-exclusive release from Recorded Books. It's not in print, there is no plan to release it in print. This is it. And this is where to get it.
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| January and me at Books Are Magic in Brooklyn, August 2018. (Doubleday didn't like my Sasha Grey T-shirt for this event.) |
Furthermore, The Kids Will Be Alright is my second collaboration with extraordinary voice actors Kyla García, who did the Meddling Kids audiobook, and January LaVoy, who did This Body's (and with whom I once had the pleasure to do a two-people, three-voices reading—she was Adrian and Zooey, I was the third wheel). Complementing their talents is Michael Crouch (Salt to the Sea, Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda), lending his voice to a rare first-person text from yours truly.
I didn't have the deliberately passed on the chance to append some personal notes to the collection, because I like my books unencumbered by prologues, commentary and author notes. That's what author blogs are for, IMO. So if you're interested, here's a breakdown of what you'll find in The Kids Will Be Alright:
A Good-Looking Corpse
By far the oldest piece in the collection: this pulpy story of a vendetta laced with hilarious body horror was written originally in Catalan as Un cadàver bonic and published in some literary anthology in 2013, wherein its reception persuaded me never to participate in Catalan literary anthologies again. Fans of angry butch heroines will probably enjoy it a lot more. I'm actually happy that she's getting a second life. Or third. The English translation is my own.
Goin' Down
Based on the little-known "Choose Your Own Adventure" book of the same title, extant only in a few deep, deep basements. Am I contractually banned from mentioning this thing's publication history? I may be? Well, the people at Recorded Books were nice enough to adopt it, so I respect that. And aren't you curious to see what Michael, Kyla, and January did with it? :D
You Don't Know This
The odd one out. Also my favorite piece in this collection. Most of the time I go outside for some inspiration and come back with half-formed ideas, maybe a few lines of dialogue, at best a good paragraph in mind. This day in 2022 I left home for a walk through Hollywood Hills completely empty-headed as is my custom, came back, and typed all 3.5K words of this in one sit. My agent Margaret Sutherland Brown later helped me fine-tune them. It's not really horror, but it's honest. Perhaps even cringey. But that's writing, in a way, isn't it? Exposing yourself, edging closer and closer to the line of embarrassment without trespassing it? I don't know. Anyway, this one is that. I may have succeeded.
The Fifth
Well, it's unavoidable to mention at this point that this collection was going to be FIVE stories, not four, so the last one being called "The Fifth" was very funny. But then they dropped one of the stories due to budget constraints, and now it's less funny. The title, I mean. The story is quite funny. Really twisty. Plot- and bones-wise. The idea was to start with something innocent and childish, in the vein of There's a Giant Trapdoor Spider Under Your Bed and slowly ratchet it up to the madcap, festive violence of A Good-Looking Corpse, thus closing the circle. And all while following the magic rules established back in Meddling Kids. You know the deal. It takes five.
And that's all for now. All there's left to say is, thank you for waiting this long. I know other authors put out a lot more content. Believe me, there is a lot more content (I swear, see for yourselves). It's just...complicated. But I'm on it.
Oh, and if you like the book? A review helps so much. Anywhere. Your online bookstore, your socials, your blog, your podcast, your coffee break. Thank you all. Sweet dreams. :)