Reader's Choice: Short-Story Collections by Contemporary Authors
Your options: 'Some of Them Will Carry Me' by Giada Scodellaro, 'Bad Houses' by John Elizabeth Stintzi and 'She Is Haunted' by Paige Clark

I’m up to my eyeballs in short-story collections. Seriously, my TBR is full of them. I’ve got collections from John Cheever, Leonora Carrington, Italo Calvino and Jorge Luis Borges, among others. And this is after I already did a mini-review roundup that included three collections. I even have a few that I’ve already read, but haven’t put in a newsletter yet (maybe I’ll bundle them with the winner of this poll). I often intend to include collections in the mix, but something seems to always comes up—a scheduling issue, or bad timing or I get distracted by some new book I bought. Whatever the reason, collections get pushed back further and further. But:

The three collections below are by contemporary authors and published by independent presses. Two have been on my TBR for more than a year. One was just added. All seem interesting. Which should I review first? Remember to scroll down and vote!
‘Some of Them Will Carry Me’ by Giada Scodellaro
My neighborhood is blessed to have two independent bookstores. Lofty Pigeon is closer to me, but there’s also Taylor & Co., which I should visit more often. I recently popped in and found ‘Some of Them Will Carry Me’ by Giada Scodellaro. It was at the bottom of a rotating rack of NYRB Classics, and the colorful cover art caught my eye. Then I noticed the author’s name, it rang a bell. I had just seen on the internet that Scodellaro had won the 2024 Novel Prize and was set to have her debut novel, ‘Ruins, Child,’ published by Fitzcarraldo Editions, New Directions and Giramondo. As I held the book, I noticed that it was published by the Dorothy Project, a great imprint, and that it had dirt and scuffs on the cover, making it seem as if the book had been long overlooked. Then I flipped it open and read: ‘Giada Scodellaro was born in Naples, Italy and raised in the Bronx, N.Y. She holds an MFA from The New School. This is her first book.’ I was like:
I had to support a fellow New Yorker! The back-cover blurb says ‘Some of Them Will Carry Me’ is ‘a boldly original collection of stories ranging in length, style, and tone—a collage of social commentary, surrealism, recipes, folklore, and art—that centers Black women in moments of imminent change.’ It also says the book’s stories ‘deconstruct contemporary life while building a surprising, unnerving new reality of language, intimacy, and loss.’ I’m excited to read a new young author from across town!
‘Bad Houses’ by John Elizabeth Stintzi
Some of you may remember that John Elizabeth Stintzi’s novel ‘My Volcano’ was one of my favorite reads of 2022. (Yikes! I just realized that was three years ago!) That novel was wild and, as I described it, ‘fascinating, ambitious and energetic, and a feat of story construction.’ So when I heard JES was coming out with a collection last year, I was like:

I knew I had to have it, and I preordered the book from Arsenal Pulp Press. The back-cover blurb says: ‘In the surreal, often precarious realities of Bad Houses, a doctor discovers a double-edged cure for the Ebola virus, a college student loses a different body part each time they return home for the summer, Midas’s hairdresser strives to keep his secrets, and a young girl develops a fascination with the trolls who harvest her father’s pumpkin patch.’ The blurb concludes: ‘Enter if you dare.’ This seems just as intense as ‘My Volcano,’ and I’d be very excited to return to their work!
‘She Is Haunted’ by Paige Clark
‘She Is Haunted’ by Paige Clark has been on my TBR for so long, that I almost included it in an earlier poll. I received it through a past subscription to Two Dollar Radio, one of my favorite independent presses. I am not familiar with Clark or her previous work, but I love and trust Two Dollar Radio; they rarely miss. So when I was putting this roundup together, I included this book like:

The back-cover blurb says: ‘With remarkable grace and an assured style, She Is Haunted masterfully grapples with charged mother-daughter dynamics, grief, exes, and the complexities of friendship in a debut collection of stories that range from competitive call centers to Chinatown restaurants.’ Seems like there are interesting stories here, for sure! What do you think of these books? Have you read any of them? Let me know in the comments, and tell me which to review first by taking this poll:
Books on GIF does not solicit or accept review copies. We feature books we purchase at independent bookstores around New York City and on our travels, or were borrowed electronically from the Brooklyn Public Library.
Thanks for reading, and thanks especially to Donna for editing this newsletter!
Until next time,
Mike
I'm very biased! I also just realized I think yesterday was the 3 year anniversary of MY VOLCANO coming out, so nice timing to see this! Thanks for the feature ✌️🙂↕️.
Many of the stories in the book were places I was experimenting with themes/things that ended up different/bigger in MY VOLCANO, so they're a great pairing.
Appreciate this post. I'm a writer looking to jump into short stories. I'd love to pick the brain is someone who does it well.