Press
What People Are Saying
“These stories have a dreamy, Shirley Jackson-on-Xanax feel. They’re also the kind of stories you want to read again, not because you necessarily missed anything, but because of that suspended feeling Poland invokes. Whether something in a story is paranormal, like a shed that stops time, or just whimsical, like the nests that one character makes out of shredded book pages, it feels entirely right and proper in its place. Allow these tales to lull you into their individual worlds, but don’t be surprised when you’re jerked from your pleasant drowsing by their endings.”
— Bethanne Patrick, “From Fabulist Stories to Cold War Potboilers: 5 Books You May Have Missed in June,” LitHub
“Each story has something that doesn’t sit well, something that makes you squirm and gets under your skin — but it’s impossible to pull away. With overarching themes of longing, loneliness and desire, this is a dark and dreamy collection where every story left me wanting more.”
— Jordan Snowden, The Seattle Times
“Whether its a honeymoon trip that takes a turn for the worst or a woman who must choose how she uses her time-freezing backyard shed, Poland’s short story collection explores the human condition in all its messy glory.”
— Carolyn Quimby, “June Preview: The Millions Most Anticipated (This Month),” The Millions
Interviews
“While the stories in this masterful collection are deeply introspective, they are also incredibly gripping and, at times, darkly funny. Set amid contemporary life or in a very near future, Poland’s stories are grounded in the realism of daily life but layered with the speculative and the surreal. They sustain a level of narrative tension that approaches something like a thriller, causing her protagonists and readers alike to contemplate their bodies, minds, and motives. Think along the lines of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper but for the 21st century, if Gilman’s classic work met with the likes of Machado and Laura van den Berg. Poland’s collection offers a nuanced feminist critique of society and technology and asks difficult questions about the nature of perceived reality when internalized social norms have made it difficult to separate one’s true desires from one’s learned expectations. Poland’s characters grapple with trying to break free from traps both socially enforced and self-imposed. They seek something better, freer, truer—though perhaps yet ineffable.”