Valerie Geary's short stories have appeared in Weekly Rumpus, Day One, Menda City Review, Boston Literary Magazine, Foundling Review, the UK publication Litro, and others.Her new novel, Crooked River, is a November 2014 Indie Next Great Read.
Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Geary's reply:
I first learned about Emily St. John Mandel’s fourth novel Station Eleven during one of my favorite podcasts. Both hosts of Books on the Nightstand were raving about Mandel’s book months before its scheduled release, and once I heard the description, I knew it was one I had to read as soonVisit Valerie Geary's website.as it came out. I love stories set in some end-of-the-world landscape, and Station Eleven takes place several years after a deadly flu decimates the population. Through this bleak future roams a Traveling Symphony, a motley and optimistic group bringing music and theater to pockets of survivors scattered throughout the region. They run into their fair share of troubles, sure, but this book is about so much more than just surviving a post-apocalyptic nightmare. It is about people and connections, threads unraveling and weaving together. It’s lyrical, moving, and nostalgic—a post-apocalyptic novel wrapped in a love story wrapped in a conversation about the tenacity of
art and the human spirit. And it just might be the best book I’ve read all year. My favorite, anyway.
I also recently started reading through Margaret Atwood’s latest collection of short stories, Stone Mattress. I am a huge Margaret Atwood fan. She draws such compelling characters and her prose ignites my creative soul. I also really enjoy short stories, how so much experience and emotion can be packed inside so few pages. I’ll be taking my time with this collection, savoring every word.
--Marshal Zeringue
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