an excerpt
by Emma Straub
October 2009
I watched the neighbor’s kid from our screened-in porch. He had a BB gun—the kind of gun parents reluctantly give eleven-year-old boys on their birthdays. Of course, the kid was not eleven, but rather an indeterminate age; he could have been eighteen or thirty, with skin the pale color of sliced bread. (read more)
Emma’s LAUNCH commercial
This is Emma Straub. You can tell by the spatula she’s holding that she doesn’t own a fork. Also, because the champagne bottle is positioned with the label facing away, you know she’s embarrassed about the vineyard. But what if you could help get her good champagne, or even a fork? (Also, she earned her MFA at Madison, and she edits Avery).
For just $10, you can buy a share in Emma’s future. As recompense for that investment, you get a signed and numbered copy of her first stand-alone book (above is an excerpt and the fabulous cover featuring beautiful art by Raul Gallardo). Buy multiple shares, get multiple copies. Give them away to friends, neighbors, and libraries; help start a career.
In all honesty, we think Emma is one of the most promising young writers in the country. Her prose is subtle, hilarious, and painful, and her dialogue is sharp-tongued without being self-consciously clever. We’ve published a story of hers in each of our first two anthologies. You can read those works in their respective entireties by clicking on the links below.
Hot Springs Eternal, Part I (from First Winter)
Snowbirds, Part I (from The Great New Anthology)
