Fiction. "The 18 stories in this debut collection range from the disquieting to the bizarre to the terrifying. One stands out for having all these qualities. A woman discovers a 'flesh-colored hump' on her shoulder that cannot be removed. What is frightening is not the plot, which finishes on a vague note, but the woman's all-consuming obsession—'It might have been possible that the hump jiggled and swayed somewhat less now than it had when it first appeared, a month before; it seemed harder, and being harder, it also seemed smaller.' Another chilling story concerns a miniature pet horse that seemingly becomes a metaphor for the psychological and sexual abuse of weaker creatures—'I would knead him then; he never struggled...and once, because I held him for so long, he began to howl'"—Publishers Weekly.

Author City: SEATTLE, WA USA

Stacey Levine is the author of MY HORSE AND OTHER STORIES (PEN/West Fiction Award) and the novels Dra— and Frances Johnson (finalist, Washington State Book Award). She was awarded The Stranger Genius Prize for Literature in 2009. Her short story collection The Girl with Brown Fur was published in the spring of 2011 by Starcherone/Dzanc. A Puschcart Prize nominee, her fiction has appeared in DENVER QUARTERLY, FENCE, Tin House, THE FAIRY TALE REVIEW, The Washington Review, the Iowa Review, Yeti, and other venues. She has contributed to the American Book Review, Bookforum, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Seattle Times, The Chicago Reader, and other publications.