Today CrimeReads published a roundtable discussion between Lise McClendon, the editor of Stop the World: Snapshots from a Pandemic, and four of us from the anthology. We discussed the inspiration behind our essays. My piece is “The Five Stages of Coronanxiety” which are telephone transcriptions between me and my dad (who lives in Taiwan) in the early stages of the pandemic.
The anthology from Thalia Press is out today! This collection features essays, poems, and short stories from 40 writers from all over the globe and is edited by Lise McClendon with Gary Phillips, Kate Flora, and Taffy Cannon.
My essay “The Five Stages of Coronanxiety” features phone conversations between me and my dad during the early days of the pandemic in February and March.
All proceeds go to charity. I’m honored to be a part of this collection and hopefully it will offer some hope and humor for readers.
Book description:
Once you may have wished for a pause to take a breath, to stop your hectic life, to enjoy a stay-cation with so much time on your hands. Then, it happened, suddenly and terrifyingly. What do you do with these scenarios, this odd time, this creativity that doesn’t stop? How do you handle it?
This collection of fiction, essays, and poetry shines a light on moments in the times we live in during the global pandemic of 2020, when the world stopped. It offers a record of people’s lives and imaginations, a snapshot of enduring creativity— a happy, sad, funny, reflective, deep, shallow, and/or thought-provoking slice of our lives.
Last night we chatted presidents and politics with our esteemed editor / publisher Peter Carlaftes. It was a blast! We also read excerpts from our stories in The Faking of the President. To watch, click on the YouTube link below!
Buy links for The Faking of the President, a New York Times Editors’ Choice!
How cool is this? The anthology is one of nine books that the editors of the New York Times has selected as staff picks. Woot! So exciting! Here’s a link to the picks: Editors’ Choice
And more good news: I received my print copy of the New York Times Book Review from my awesome publisher / editor Peter Carlaftes of Three Rooms Press. YOU KNOW I’M GOING TO FRAME THIS!
The New York Times reviewed three books that deal with political satire and one of them is The Faking of the President anthology! Editor Peter Carlaftes of Three Rooms Press and all of us contributors are absolutely thrilled that they chose to review our book and it’s a great review! I’d say it’s the best of the three.
And they mentioned me and my near-future President Pence story “In Mother We Trust”! Now that’s something I can check off my bucket list.
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.
My story “Hotelin” is about a teenage girl struggling to take care of her little sister while her single mother works two jobs and moves them from hotel to hotel. It’s a tale of revenge and community.
My story “In Mother We Trust” is set during the 2024 election with Mike Pence as the Republican candidate. Trump refuses to leave office which sets off all kinds of shenanigans, Calexit being one of them. I tell the story from Karen Pence’s POV which required me to do a lot of research into the Pences. That was interesting to say the least. I had a lot of fun writing this and it was quite the challenge!
Three Rooms Press is hosting several virtual launch parties on Facebook Live in the next few weeks beginning with one tonight. I’ll be reading at the virtual L.A. one on May 19 with the other Los Angeleno writers. More on that to come!
