Treehouse

Johannes Lichtman

Last March, after about six months of planning, a handful of my former students and I finally opened our literary treehouse to you all. In the past nine months, we’ve had the privilege to publish more great writers than we could ever have hoped for—and not only that, but a dozen or so of these great writers have books out. Books that you should read!

Over the next week, we’re going to be spinning the Treehouse Mixtape (Volume 1), featuring some of the best stuff we’ve published over this first year, along with little tastes of why you should read the books these great writers have written. With those post-holiday Amazon gift cards burning a hole through your pocket, it seems like the perfect time to buy them (or, in some cases, download the books for free).

Along with the seven writers we’ll be featuring over the course of the week—Matt Bell, Marie-Helene Bertino, Gabriel Blackwell, David Galef, Ravi Mangla, Thomas Mundt, and Ariana Nadia Nash—we’d also like to congratulate these Treehousers who have also recently put out books, have books coming out soon, or have recently been featured in major anthologies:

Eugene Cross Fires of Our Choosing: a short story collection from Dzanc Books, which we liked so much that we reviewed it here at Treehouse, and I included it in my personal top 10 of 2012. But don’t just take our word for it—The Huffington Post said of Cross’ characters: “They are who they are, and if dignity has been denied them by the rest of us, including us story-tellers, it is restored by this collection.”

Roxane Gay’s short story “North Country” was picked as one of the twenty Best American Short Stories of 2012 by editor Tom Perrotta.

Kyle Minor Praying Drunk: a short story collection from Sarabande Books scheduled for release in early 2014, of which Daniel Handler (aka “Lemony Snicket”) said, “I finished this book with my heart pounding and grateful, my coffee cold and my smile wide and crying like a baby.”

Patrick Somerville This Bright River: a novel from Reagan Arthur (an imprint of Little, Brown), which the Chicago Tribune called “A remarkable achievement.”

Matthew Specktor American Dream Machine: a novel from Tin House Books forthcoming in April 2013, which David Shields called “the definitive new Hollywood novel.”

Brandi Wells poisonhorse: a chapbook from Nephew (an imprint of Mud Luscious Press), which featured was on CNN.