Suspend Your Disbelief

Shop Talk |

Book of the Week: Rise, by L. Annette Binder


rise_coverOur new feature is L. Annette Binder‘s debut story collection, Rise (Sarabande). Binder was born in Germany and grew up in Colorado. She has degrees from Harvard, Berkeley, and the Programs in Writing at the University of California, Irvine. Rise received the 2011 Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction, selected by Laura Kasischke. Her fiction has recently appeared or is forthcoming in The Pushcart Prize XXXVI, One Story, American Short Fiction, The Southern Review, Third Coast, Fairy Tale Review, Bellingham Review, Beloit Fiction Journal, and others.

In Lee Thomas’s recent review of the collection, she writes:

Pick up nearly any work of literary fiction these days and a reader would draw the conclusion that writers are a gloomy bunch; everything always goes wrong. Strains of fantasy, deformity (physical, emotional), the macabre, and plenty of bad (or absent) fathers run through Binder’s stories, but her writing elevates what, in the hands of lesser artists, would be mere gimmickry. It’s easy to see why Rise won the 2011 Mary McCarthy Prize.

We’re giving away a copy of Rise in two weeks to three of our Twitter followers. To be eligible for this giveaway (and all future ones), simply click over to Twitter and “follow” us (@fictionwriters).

To all of you who are already fans, thank you!


Further Reading

  • Read the title story of the collection – “Rise” – on Swink.
  • Read “Ghost Girl” on Storyglossia.

Literary Partners