I have a piece in the upcoming collection Stop the World: Snapshots from a Pandemic with Thalia Press. It will be out August 4, 2020 and features 40 essays, short stories, and poems about, what else? The pandemic.

I’m excited about this one and it’s a first for me as my contribution is an essay rather than a short story. Actually, it’s not really an essay but telephone transcriptions, hence the title “The Five Stages of Coronanxiety in Telephone Transcriptions.” These are conversations between my dad and I during the early stages of the pandemic. The U.S. had not issued “safer at home” orders yet. I have to say it was very cathartic writing this!

I’m grateful to the editors Gary Phillips, Lise McClendon, and Taffy Cannon for putting this together. And all proceeds go to charity!

Here’s the book description:

HOW WILL YOU REMEMBER THE PANDEMIC?

Not fondly, of course. But your life, and the lives of millions of others, are forever changed by these times. These 40 writers set out to record their experiences, emotions, fears, and gratitude for living through 2020. Stuck at home, watching the news in horror, helping others: these writers’ imaginations never stopped (although their productivity sometimes took a hit.)

Crime stories, creative fiction, elegant and angry poetry, wrenching personal essays– these record the pandemic year in ways we are likely to want to forget. For the record, here are 40 inspiring, heartfelt, creative takes on this odd and terrifying time in the world, from writers in the US, Canada, Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, and Romania. All 2020 profits will be donated to charity.

Preorder here!

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