Publisher Description
The eight stories in Things to Do When You're Goth in the Country paint a vivid image of people living on the fringes in America, people who don't do what you might expect them to. Not stories of triumph over adversity, but something completely other.
Described in language that is brilliantly sardonic, Woods's characters return repeatedly to places where they don't belong—often the places where they were born. In "Zombie," a coming-of-age story like no other, two young girls find friendship with a mysterious woman in the local cemetery. "Take the Way Home That Leads Back to Sullivan Street" describes a lesbian couple trying to repair their relationship by dropping acid at a Mensa party. In "A New Mohawk," a man in romantic pursuit of a female political activist becomes inadvertently much more familiar with the Palestine/Israel conflict than anyone would have thought possible. And in the title story, Woods brings us into the mind of a queer goth teenager who faces ostracism from her small-town evangelical church.
In the background are the endless American wars and occupations and too many early deaths of friends and family. This is fiction that is fresh and of the moment, even as it is timeless.
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About Chavisa Woods
Brooklyn-based writer Chavisa Woods is the author of The Albino Album and Love Does Not Make Me Gentle or Kind. Woods was the recipient of the 2014 Cobalt Prize for Fiction, the 2018 Kathy Acker Award for Fiction, and she was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Fiction in 2009, 2014, and 2018. Woods has appeared as a featured author at the Whitney Museum of American Art, City Lights Bookstore, Seattle Town Hall, the Brecht Forum, the Cervantes Institute, and the St. Mark’s Poetry Project.
About the Narrators
Rebecca Mitchell is a performance artist and classically trained vocalist, as well as a professional host, emcee, and personality. Her natural flair for the dramatic, coupled with her love of being in the studio, brought her to the world of narrating in 2013.
Rudy Sanda is a versatile actor, singer, voice-over artist, and fight choreographer. He has appeared on stage and screen in the United States and England, including productions at Laguna Playhouse, Ivoryton Playhouse, and Ocean State Theatre. Rudy holds a BFA in acting from the University of Rhode Island.