Short Stories/Novellas

A phone call destroys the quiet of one August morning for Theresa. What she can’t yet know is how much her world has been shattered. Her new husband, Billy, has been wounded while serving in Iraq, and now they say he’s coming home. But, like so many young soldiers returning from conflict, Billy’s homecoming brings with it much more than just the relief of return. Physically hurt and psychologically damaged, Billy now has secrets. Remembering the salad days of their marriage, Theresa is confused and disappointed by the change in her husband. It seems that their plans—and the luck that they had so happily assumed was responsible for their love—have changed too. As Theresa watches Billy’s silent decline, she must decide if she will sink with him or seize control and lead them in a more hopeful direction.

From “a highest-order storyteller of Southern noir” ( Electric Literature) , a queer coming-of-age novel about addiction, belonging, and loving a place that doesn't always love you back. When sixteen-year-old Shae meets Cam, who is new to their small town in West Virginia, she thinks she has found someone who is everything she has ever wanted in a companion. The two become fast friends, and then more. And when Shae ends up pregnant, Cam begins a different transition—trying on clothes that Shae can no longer fit into and using female pronouns. Shae tries to be fully supportive as Cam becomes the person she wants and needs to be. After a traumatic C-section and the birth of their daughter, Eva, Shae is given opioids to manage the intense pain. During the first year of Eva’s life, Shae’s dependence shifts from pain management to addiction, and her days begin to revolve around getting more pills. In the heart of West Virginia, opioids are dispensed as freely as candy, and Shae is just one of many to fall victim to addiction. Meanwhile, as Cam continues to transition, she embraces new relationships and faces the reality of being a trans woman in rural America. Shae is as much about these two young women as it is about the home they both love despite its limitations. Following the acclaimed Sugar Run and Perpetual West , this is Mesha Maren’s most intense and intimate novel yet.