News

Selected Shorts and Best of the Net NOm

Posted on by hmonley

Back in May, I was thrilled to have my story “Town of Birds,” originally published by the Kenyon Review, performed by Yetide Badaki for Selected Shorts, at a live show hosted by Amy Tan. (That sentence sounds calm for something that was totally mindblowingly incredible for me, so allow me in this parenthetical to lose my cool for a moment and say holy f***ing s**t did that really happen, OMFG wow!!!!!)

The recording is now on the Selected Shorts podcast, in an episode called “Taking Flight with Amy Tan,” along with stories by Ben Loory and Mikkel Rosengaard and commentary by host Meg Wolitzer. Find it here or on your podcast app of choice.

In other good news, the New Orleans Review nominated my story “The Moth-Child” for The Best of the Net. Thank you so much NOR!

Reading 8/27/20 with the REO Town Reading Series

Posted on by hmonley

A quick update: I’ll be reading a story at the REO Town Reading Series out of Lansing, Michigan on Thursday, 8/27. I will still be in (smoky) California, but will be reading to anyone who tunes in virtually via the magic of the internet. Thanks to Matthew Rossi for organizing! Here’s the link to the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1246895258984484.

This is extra exciting because my friend and amazing novelist Diane Cook is also reading! I highly, highly recommend her new novel The New Wilderness. Tune in to the reading Thursday and you’ll see what I mean!

“Onward and Outward” in The Normal School!

Posted on by hmonley

A belated update: in the fall, a favorite story of mine found a home in the awesome journal The Normal School out of CSU Fresno. I’ve actually had this story kicking around since 2007 or so, so it’s great to finally have it out in the world!

This was the first story I wrote about metamorphosis and animals, which became quite a theme for me, so it has an extra special place in my heart. (Plus it was part of my application to grad school, and I like to think it helped there!) While the same basic story has stuck throughout the revisions, it took me years to get it to a place where it felt complete. Big thanks to my residency at The Lighthouse Works back in 2014, where I got this almost to the finish line.

The story isn’t on The Normal School’s website, but you can subscribe and order issues from their website. It’s in the Fall 2018 issue (Volume Eleven, Issue Two). Here’s a teaser:

The man went to sleep with his wife beside him in bed and the next morning woke to find a leopard shark in her place.

You won’t believe what happens next! 😉