Rebecca van Laer, "How to Adjust to the Dark" (Long Day, 2022) & Shannon McLeod, "Whimsy" (Long Day, 2021)

Rebecca van Laer’s writing appears in TriQuarterly Review, joyland, Columbia journal, the Florida review, Salamander, Hobart, mokeybicycle, electric literature and elsewhere. She holds a PhD in English from Brown University. Shannon McLeod is the author of the essay chapbook Pathetic from Etchings Press, and her writings have appeared in Tin House, Prairie Schooner, Hobart, and Smokelong Quarterly. She lives in Virginia where she teaches high school English. Rebecca and Shannon join me to discuss their debut novellas, How to Adjust to the Dark and Whimsy, both out with Long Day Press.

Books Recommended in this episode:

How to Adjust to the Dark and Whimsy

Rebecca Recommends:

• Nate Lippens, My Dead Book
• Naomi Washer, Subjects We Left Out

Shannon Recommends:

• Chloe Caldwell, Women
• Chantal V. Johnson, Post-Traumatic
• Ursula Villarreal-Moura, Math for the Self-Crippling
• Sebastian Castillo, Not I



Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers.

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