Travis Eisenbise

Cool idea. I’d be game! They don’t receive enough attention.

How to become a writer checklist: writing a book is the worst idea you've had yet! You're not going to make any money! It's going to be nearly impossible to get people to care! Nobody has heard of you! Then go for it.

This Could All Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews.

Three stacks of books on a table.

My 2023 in books. Grateful to all the wonderful writers I met who shared their wisdom and encouragement.❤️

The Half-Mammals of Dixie by George Singleton.

Find of the day 🙌🏼

The Best American Short Stories edited by Min Jin Lee. Book cover, handheld. Blue and black cover.

An annual tradition. Some of my favorites this time are: “Do You Belong to Anybody?” (Maya Binyam), “Treasure Island Alley” (Da-Lin), “Annunciation” (Lauren Groff), “Bebo” (Jared Jackson), and “Compromisos” (Manuel Muñoz)

Book cover. Teal with white border. Text: Temple Folk // Aaliyah Bilal

Picked this one up because it’s shortlisted for the National Book Awards. (Being announced on Wednesday!) Favorites include: Blue, The Spider, Candy for Hanif, and Due North.

Text: Blackouts // Justin Torres. Book cover. 95% black. Yellow outline of a tiger head on left side.

One of the gayest, most intimate books I’ve read in a while. Very happy it exists in the world. 🙏🏼❤️

Book cover. Stay Awake by Dan Chaon. Misty field with bed.

Have been and will also be a Dan Chaon fan. A great follow-up to “Among the Missing.” Favorites: The Bees, Stay Awake, and Thinking of You in Your Time of Sorrow. Reading through The Story Prize winners and finalists (very slowly!).

Text: Hell of a Book. A novel. Jason Mott NYT bestselling author of The Returned. Yellow book. Black font.

The pace of this book is wild. The depth and insight it reveals is gut-wrenching. The craft of it all is stunning. Plus there’s a scene with Nic Cage that is *chef’s kiss.* A hell of an achievement.

I love lit mag newsletters, except when I have a story under submission there. I gasp multiple times a month.

Book cover. Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

One of the most unique and visceral short story collections I’ve run across recently. Definitely looking forward to Chain-Gang All-Stars. Favorites here include: The Finklestein, The Era, and Zimmer Land.

Stack of books. Various authors/titles.

2023 third quarter book round-up! Been a busy few months, but really inspired by all these great books and the authors behind them. 🥰

Book cover. “The Sorrow of Others” by Ada Zhang. White/grey cover with intersecting arrows.

Have been reading this collection each morning over the past week. Really enjoyed this one. Perfect with coffee and sunrises. My favorites: The Subject, The Sorrows of Others, Propriety, and Compromise.

Book cover. Garth Greenwell’s “What Belongs to You”. The left 1/3 is a man’s face, with one eye showing. The right 2/3 is the facade of an apartment complex in Bulgaria. A bright pink strip runs down the far right of the book.

Ashamed to admit this is my first Garth Greenwell. It won’t be my last. Three cheers for Proustian gayness in Bulgaria.

View looking down from a theatre balcony. Center, in white, standing in front of a grand piano, Lise Davidsen, the soprano. She’s standing aside her accompanist in a black tuxedo.

Lise Davidsen at The Met. What a joy.

The metropolitan opera house in nyc at night. Deep blue sky.

Marquee of recital singer Lise Davidsen. She’s smiling looking left in a dark green dress.

When summer ends, opera begins. 🥰

Man (center, background) in rocking chair. On his lap is a quilting project. Behind him, a (very dirty! 😅) window with green curtains, soft light.

When your hubs is a quilter, working from home has more of a bucolic feel.

Close up on concrete. Shoe tip. Squashed lantern fly.

Did my part 💪🏼

Miranda July (left, sitting with mic, wearing black) speaks with Lauren Gross (right, holding mic, white suit with black dots). They are sitting inside a church.

Lauren Groff and Miranda July for the launch of The Vaster Wilds. At St. Ann’s for Books are Magic. 🥰

I have a special place in my heart for Kirstin Valdez Quade’s and Leigh Newman’s collections, but you can’t go wrong with any of them! Really loved the Emma Cline, Arthur Bradford, and Katie Kitamura reads. Richard Mirabella’s debut novel is also stellar.

Two stacks of books close together. Approximately 30-40 books. Mostly collections of short stories and journals.

Public library. Close up: table/desk with journal and computer.

Former Twitter/X transplant. Working to rebuild some community here. To start off, here’s a brief taste of my summer. Lots of reading and lots of sitting around attempting (ha!) to write. Onward.