How to Make Paper When the World is Ending
Summary
From the award-winning author of the "dazzling" (Kirkus Reviews) and "magnificent" (Reedsy Discovery) debut novel The Best Week That Never Happened comes a luminous new collection of short stories that deftly examines, explores, and reimagines the ghost story: How to Make Paper When the World is Ending.
A couple sets off on their first long weekend together with romantic-or murderous-intentions. A recently divorced father attempts to jump-start his life by performing as John Lennon in a Beatles cover band. A young woman becomes obsessed with a sweepstakes contest in the wake of her roommate's sudden death.
How to Make Paper When the World Is Ending features literal ghosts, spiritual ghosts, charming ghosts; ghosts that are dead ends and ghosts that are still living; the ghosts of what might yet be and the ghosts of what might have been. How is each of us shaped by what haunts us?
As Entropy Magazine noted of her first collection, Dallas Woodburn is a master of writing stories that "never cease to surprise or carry a wave of emotional impact." With its ambitious scope and resonant themes, How to Make Paper When the World Is Ending is another deeply felt, captivating collection of stories that will linger long after the final page.
Click here to read an excerpt.
A magnificent compendium of slightly spooky stories that will chill you, delight you and amuse you.”
Smart, moving, inventive, funny, and always surprising. Dallas Woodburn is a writer to watch.”
It's impossible to read these stories and not feel 'all the feels' of Woodburn's characters. With a spotlight on friendships and romances—and how the past intrudes into the present—her characters search for meaning in lives disrupted by loss and yet fueled by hope. Woodburn's innovative, creative structure, colorful dialogue, and mystical elements sit in that spooky place in literary fiction on the edge of noir.”
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