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"These are stories about attempting to outrun time; about trying to remember transfemme pasts; about magic touching everything except the possibility of lasting love."From a shapeshifting garden somewhere in Michigan to a West Texas town with a supernatural past, from a stalactite cavern in the birthplace of Aphrodite to a secret waterfall in Texarkana: from nowhere to anywhere, Aurora Mattia chases glimpses of paradise. Her gemstone prose shatters into starbursts of heartbreak and rapture, gossip and holy babble, bringing together a cast of spiders, sibyls, angels, mermaids, girlfriends, and goddesses in vain pursuit of their unnameable selves. Their perils are as dense with symbolism as they are refined by desire-if beauty is the labyrinth, it is also the light. Tied together by the strings of a corset, Unsex Me Here is a dazzling showcase of other worlds near and distant, and the high femme ramblers who've found and lost their way through them.
About the author
Aurora Mattia was born in Hong Kong and lives in Texas. Her first book,
The Fifth Wound, was published by Nightboat Books. Her stories have appeared in
Zoetrope: All-Story,
Prairie Schooner,
SPASM,
Joyland, and elsewhere; and also in exhibitions at the RISD Museum and the Renaissance society, accompanying portraits by Elle Pérez. She’s working on a new novel called
Seven Come Eleven, and writing some country songs. She believes in a free Palestine and an end to ICE, from the Rio Grande to the Jordan River, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Mediterranean Sea.
Summary
“These are stories about attempting to outrun time; about trying to remember transfemme pasts; about magic touching everything except the possibility of lasting love.”
From a shapeshifting garden somewhere in Michigan to a West Texas town with a supernatural past, from a stalactite cavern in the birthplace of Aphrodite to a secret waterfall in Texarkana: from nowhere to anywhere, Aurora Mattia chases glimpses of paradise. Her gemstone prose shatters into starbursts of heartbreak and rapture, gossip and holy babble, bringing together a cast of spiders, sibyls, angels, mermaids, girlfriends, and goddesses in vain pursuit of their unnameable selves. Their perils are as dense with symbolism as they are refined by desire—if beauty is the labyrinth, it is also the light.
Tied together by the strings of a corset, Unsex Me Here is a dazzling showcase of other worlds near and distant, and the high femme ramblers who’ve found and lost their way through them.
Foreword
- National print, radio, and online campaign
- Targeted bookseller mailing
- Regional Texas tour
- Promotion on Coffee House Press e-newsletter, website, and social media channels
- Giveaways on Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads
- Simultaneous print and e-book release
- Galleys available in April 2024
- Indie Next Deadline: June 26, 2024
- Email laura@coffeehousepress.org for physical galleys
