In an effort to embrace any opportunity to employ the use of the phrase THE STORY PRIZE in the same general vicinity as MARGARET MALONE or PEOPLE LIKE YOU, I jumped when asked by TSP Director Larry Dark to contribute to the blog.
Congrats to all the eligible writers this year. It’s a win to find oneself with a book out at all in this crazy mixed up world of ours.
Happy new year!
David Abrams, the acclaimed author of FOBBIT and literary brain behind the site The Quivering Pen released a review today of PEOPLE LIKE YOU that was the kind of review writers dream of receiving. Here’s a snippet:
Of all the books I read in 2015—and there were many—few infected me quite like People Like You by Margaret Malone. This debut collection of stories embodies everything I love about short fiction: it dances on boxer’s feet, moves in quick, punches hard, and then leaves my head ringing.
He goes on:
These stories stir up the kind of excitement in my readerly bones that I haven’t felt since I first read the works of writers like Raymond Carver, Richard Ford, Jamie Quatro, Ron Carlson, Benjamin Percy, Lee Smith, and even Ernest Hemingway. Yes, I’d unhesitatingly add Margaret Malone to that pantheon of authors. Her work embodies the best qualities of each of those writers: terse, detailed, empathetic fiction that is very often funny as hell.
You can see how my head pretty much exploded when I read the full review.
As a writer, what I always hope for first and foremost is to connection – to find a reader who gets what I’m trying to do; then, to find a reader who not only gets it but loves it… there is nothing in the whole wide writing world better than that.
My deepest, most humble thanks to David Abrams for writing such a thoughtful, beautiful and beautifully-written review.
I am over the moon.
Christmas came a few days early for PEOPLE LIKE YOU this year:
Powell’s, The Oregonian and the Portland Mercury all included the story collection on year-end “best of” lists and I could not be more grateful.
The Oregonian’s Best of the Northwest 2015
Powell’s Best Fiction Books of 2015
Portland Mercury’s Required Reading of 2015
In these lists I am keeping company with some of the finest writers working today. I’m gob-smacked to be included alongside them.
Thank you!!
Biggest of thanks to the awesome John Sepulvado of OPB for the great chat we had about People Like You and for putting together such a wonderful piece for Weekend Edition.
Topics covered include short stories, brain tumors, hookers, infertility, and pregnant drinking, to name a few. All that in six and a half minutes.
In his introduction to our interview, John writes:
Margaret Malone – a self-described introvert with a penchant to believe everything will, at some point, “go horribly wrong” – turned to writing as a way to open herself to the world.
Many thanks to Stephanie Kralevich and all the folks at Good Day Oregon on KPTV for spending some time this week talking with me about PEOPLE LIKE YOU.
To watch the two minute clip, go here.
PEOPLE LIKE YOU was just selected as one of the 35 Over 35 books of the year!
So grateful for the book’s inclusion on a list. I’m honored to be named in the same breath as these other incredible writers. Thank you 35 Over 35!
“I love how things have to fit together. There has to be a purpose to each and every part of a short story. That’s fun, at least most of the time. Some of the time I just want to stab myself, but most of the time I love the way you have to fit everything together for it to be its own little world.”
Big thanks to Fiona McCann at Portland Monthly for connecting with me to talk about writing and books and the long road that led to People Like You.
The folks at the phenomenal literary site We Wanted To Be Writers featured People Like You in two big ways this week.
First, they excerpted a big chunk of the title story for their ARCology series – helping to introduce recurring characters Bert & Cheryl to a wider audience. Go here to read the first several pages of People Like You.
Second, I was asked to do a post for their Books By The Bed series – this is where writers reveal the titles of the stack of books on their nightstands that they are reading, have read, or are in line to read. Not much is better than sharing with other readers why I love the writers and the books I love. An endless conversation.
Check out who I’m sleeping next to here.
Thanks for reading along.
Reviewer Joshua James Amberson of the Portland Mercury had this, among other things, to say about People Like You:
“Malone’s writing could be seen as a close cousin to the work of Tom Drury, Mary Robison, or Denis Johnson—stories that casually draw you in and leave you wanting more. People Like You feels like being let in on a secret that won’t stay secret for long.”
Big thanks to him for such an awesome review and for supporting Portland’s small presses and writers.
Go here to read the full review.
By some incredible miracle I was afforded the opportunity to put together a playlist for PEOPLE LIKE YOU at the literary giant site Largehearted Boy.
Don’t ask me how this happened. Being the kooky mad music fan that I am, I can’t believe my good luck.
I’m still pinching myself.
To read about the songs I selected for each story, go to Largehearted Boy.
To skip all that blabbering and just listen to the playlist on Spotify, go here.
Hope you hear something you like.