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The Lineup: 20 Provocative Women Writers
Edited by Richard Thomas. Foreword by Alissa Nutting.
There are women writing short stories today that take chances, risks—you might even call their work provocative. The Lineup is a collection of twenty of the most compelling, powerful, and honest stories that have been published in the last five years. Written by some of the most talented contemporary voices in literature today, this collection contains award-winning, anthologized, and recognized authors that are emerging as the voices of our time. These women are not afraid to tackle any subject, to write from any perspective, or to lay any secret bare. If the stories in this collection don’t make you laugh, enlighten you, and break your heart, then you should check your pulse, because you’re probably not alive.
Stories by: Laura Benedict, Paula Bomer, Karen Brown, Shannon Cain, Kim Chinquee, Monica Drake, Kathy Fish, Amina Gautier, Tina May Hall, Nancy Hightower, Jessica Hollander, Holly Goddard Jones, Stacey Levine, Kelly Luce, Nina McConigley, Janet Mitchell, Ethel Rohan, Karin Tidbeck, Damien Angelica Walters and Claire Vaye Watkins.
EARLY PRAISE
"These are stories that live on the edge of the cliff. They’re wild and unpredictable and important and wonderfully unsettling. Somewhere in this volume, you’ll find your new favorite voice."
—Rebecca Makkai
"The Lineup is full of ferocious, dark, and brilliant voices. The book as chorus both troubles and dazzles, as all great fiction does."
—Lauren Groff
"The writers that make up The Lineup are more than just provocative. With its anorexic ragamuffins and organ-thieving medical students, its doomed shot-girls and exterminator-besotted housewives, this anthology will pry your eyes open wide and weeping with gratitude to the spectacle of lives being lived under transcendent duress. By turns searing, heartrending, hilarious, grim, profoundly tender and indelibly macabre."
—Adrian Van Young
There are women writing short stories today that take chances, risks—you might even call their work provocative. The Lineup is a collection of twenty of the most compelling, powerful, and honest stories that have been published in the last five years. Written by some of the most talented contemporary voices in literature today, this collection contains award-winning, anthologized, and recognized authors that are emerging as the voices of our time. These women are not afraid to tackle any subject, to write from any perspective, or to lay any secret bare. If the stories in this collection don’t make you laugh, enlighten you, and break your heart, then you should check your pulse, because you’re probably not alive.
Stories by: Laura Benedict, Paula Bomer, Karen Brown, Shannon Cain, Kim Chinquee, Monica Drake, Kathy Fish, Amina Gautier, Tina May Hall, Nancy Hightower, Jessica Hollander, Holly Goddard Jones, Stacey Levine, Kelly Luce, Nina McConigley, Janet Mitchell, Ethel Rohan, Karin Tidbeck, Damien Angelica Walters and Claire Vaye Watkins.
EARLY PRAISE
"These are stories that live on the edge of the cliff. They’re wild and unpredictable and important and wonderfully unsettling. Somewhere in this volume, you’ll find your new favorite voice."
—Rebecca Makkai
"The Lineup is full of ferocious, dark, and brilliant voices. The book as chorus both troubles and dazzles, as all great fiction does."
—Lauren Groff
"The writers that make up The Lineup are more than just provocative. With its anorexic ragamuffins and organ-thieving medical students, its doomed shot-girls and exterminator-besotted housewives, this anthology will pry your eyes open wide and weeping with gratitude to the spectacle of lives being lived under transcendent duress. By turns searing, heartrending, hilarious, grim, profoundly tender and indelibly macabre."
—Adrian Van Young
312 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2015
About the author
Richard Thomas
100 books692 followersRichard Thomas is the award-winning author of nine books: four novels—Incarnate (Podium), Disintegration and Breaker (Penguin Random House Alibi), and Transubstantiate (Otherworld Publications); four short story collections—Spontaneous Human Combustion (Turner Publishing—Bram Stoker finalist), Tribulations (Cemetery Dance), Staring Into the Abyss (Kraken Press), and Herniated Roots (Snubnose Press); as well as one novella of The Soul Standard (Dzanc Books). His over 175 stories in print include The Best Horror of the Year (Volume Eleven), Cemetery Dance (twice), Behold!: Oddities, Curiosities and Undefinable Wonders (Bram Stoker Award winner), The Hideous Book of Hidden Horrors (Shirley Jackson Award winner), Lightspeed, PANK, storySouth, Gargoyle, Weird Fiction Review, Midwestern Gothic, Shallow Creek, The Seven Deadliest, Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories, Qualia Nous, Chiral Mad (numbers 2-4), PRISMS, Pantheon, and Shivers VI. He has won contests at ChiZine and One Buck Horror, has received five Pushcart Prize nominations, and has been long-listed for Best Horror of the Year seven times. He was also the editor of four anthologies: The New Black and Exigencies (Dark House Press), The Lineup: 20 Provocative Women Writers (Black Lawrence Press) and Burnt Tongues (Medallion Press) with Chuck Palahniuk. He has been nominated for the Bram Stoker (twice), Shirley Jackson, Thriller, and Audie awards. In his spare time he is a columnist at Lit Reactor. He was the Editor-in-Chief at Dark House Press and Gamut Magazine. His agent is Paula Munier at Talcott Notch. For more information visit www.whatdoesnotkillme.com.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 15, 2015
The release date for this book seemed to be delayed for quite awhile--felt like it took ages to finally come out. It was worth the wait. I suspected it would be because I am pretty entrenched in my Richard Thomas fandom at this point. I can think of no better editor. These stories were brilliant and lovely.
October 26, 2015
A beautifully curated collection of diverse stories and storytellers. I hadn't heard of any of these writers before this, but there are more than a few that I am going to look up now. It's great to have a collection that focuses solely on women writers, but this collection is really so much more than that. All these writers have created strong male and female characters with extremely different and distinct points of view. The stories contain commentary on a wide variety of humanistic themes, societal issues, and gender discussions that are more than relevant to us all today. The writing is without a doubt beautiful and for that aspect alone this collection is worth picking up. If you think there's nothing new in the world of fiction, think again, and start reading!
May 23, 2016
So a funny thing happened to me reading these stories... I kept stopping to share my reactions with someone, like when you're watching a film that's terrifying or melancholy or funny in a way that makes you feel bad for laughing. Then I'd remember - this wasn't a movie I was watching with someone. It was a book I was reading all alone. And I felt as if I would burst, having no one to share this experience with. So I hope more people read this, and they too can be haunted by it.
March 28, 2016
review forthcoming
March 21, 2017
Stellar short fiction from some of our finest--and NOT the sort of stories where nothing happens (my personal pet peeve!).
June 13, 2020
It feels really difficult to rate this since it’s a short story collection. There were stories that were so fantastic I’m still thinking about them days after the fact and there are others that were so not my taste that I skimmed them after the first page.
This Is How It Starts, A Galloping Infection, Stillborn, and They Make of You a Monster were my favorites. Probably unsurprising to anyone who knows me that two of these have fantasy/sci-fi elements. The other two won me over because of how gripping the characterization was.
There were a couple instances of weird, out of left field racist remarks in the first pages of a couple of those skim-worthy stories. In one story it felt relevant, at least, but the other could have easily dropped it and lost nothing.
Definitely going to check out more work from the authors I liked; they had the right amount of disturbing horrific elements and feel-good ones.
This Is How It Starts, A Galloping Infection, Stillborn, and They Make of You a Monster were my favorites. Probably unsurprising to anyone who knows me that two of these have fantasy/sci-fi elements. The other two won me over because of how gripping the characterization was.
There were a couple instances of weird, out of left field racist remarks in the first pages of a couple of those skim-worthy stories. In one story it felt relevant, at least, but the other could have easily dropped it and lost nothing.
Definitely going to check out more work from the authors I liked; they had the right amount of disturbing horrific elements and feel-good ones.
December 12, 2020
I'm not a huge fan of short stories, I usually end up wanting more but of course, there isn't more - it's not a novel. There were some stories I really enjoyed (Parts by Holly Goddard Jones) and others I didn't care for at all (Skinny Girls' Constitution and Bylaws by Tina May Hall). It's a fine line in a short story -- telling enough the reader knows what's going on, but keeping the story contained. Some did this better than others.
May 7, 2017
Not up to the lofty standards of The New Black, but still enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews