Out of Tales (yes, novel is a dubious word for it, but close enough, perhaps) has been liberated. It was exciting and exhausting to produce. I’m taking stock now, as I’ve sold some copies and gotten my first feedback post-publication (I’ve talked to six readers now).
Responses are mixed. I’ve had a reader who preferred the novelistic elements, and (happily! I was afraid I’d be the only one who felt this way) another who found more appeal in some of the essayistic writing. Some have found it overwhelming: due to the darkness of the plot, due to the difficulty of keeping track of overlapping realities, due to the difficulty of finding a through line, to a point I’m writing a reader’s guide (more on this later). I’ve gotten my first (wonderfully kind and thoughtful) Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216510541
In addition, though, I’ve gotten permission to share some of the most amazing feedback I’ve gotten privately post-publication, from a friend.
They say,
It is among my favorite things I have read this year. I love the different timing and perspectives and the way it shifts the way you think of the story. When I finished I immediately re-read the beginning, and realized just how much I had already known [a]nd how much the poems made sense in context. I loved the empty woman, figuring out who she was, and that context on each of the characters and their story almost felt invasive, reading it, it felt so much like the inner thoughts and feelings of someone, and I think I would have felt that way if I didn’t know the author. That is the sort of thing I really love in a book, though, that someone has managed to put into sublime words a feeling / thought that seems so completely personal to them, so I can understand more about the world and see it. Also, as per usual you always make me want to read more. Do you know Jenna Moran? I think the closest I’ve felt to this book was reading her book, and that is among the highest compliments I can offer, I think
[…] And I picked it up just after finishing The Invention of the Darling which is a poetry book that is also about Love and the Divine and trauma from the past and families and I also thought it was beautiful, so it was up against some super high previous experience and I have no idea what I’m going to do about reading next. And I love the magic. There’s just enough explanation of it and how it works to intrigue me, and it’s very flavorful for the rest of the book. I’m not someone who looks for how magic systems hold together, per se, but I do appreciate when they’re fascinating, and I definitely appreciate when they’re thematic.”
If that doesn’t make me feel like a real writer, I don’t know what would.
Of Elsewhere 