jen michalski (do not use)

The Company of Strangers Tops Electric Literature's "15 Small Press Books You Should Be Reading This Summer"

2023-07-01T17:59:00.004-07:00

"Despite varied perspectives in class and personas, there is a strong thread between the stories, as each delivers an emotional punch. A stunning accomplishment."

I'm so excited that Electric Literature and Wendy J. Fox recommended my story collection The Company of Strangers (Braddock Avenue Books) as the number one small press read this summer!

My Visit to BookTails Podcast!

2023-07-01T17:55:00.003-07:00

Excited to be featured on the June Booktails podcast, where I spoke with cohosts Heather Fowler and Reine Dugas about identity, the definition of success, 2nd person POV and more, as well as reading from my story collection The Company of Strangers (Braddock Avenue Books)!

To listen, go here.

You'll Be Fine is a 2022 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist!

2022-05-29T21:03:00.004-07:00

Excited that You'll Be Fine was a finalist in the LGBTQ category of the 2022 Next Generation Indie Book Awards! Congratulations to all the winners!

New Memoir at Split Lip Magazine!

2022-05-16T14:01:00.000-07:00

I don't write about myself often, because I think my life is boring (and my imagination so much more fertile). Now my immediate family except for my brother has passed on, however, I often think about how to preserve my family, my memories, to a world that will be largely indifferent to them when I also pass. This has meant being braver and trying to write about myself, even as I've closed the door to most things that happened before I went away to college and became, in my mind, my own person, the one who I wanted to be.

This memoir piece, "Stations of the Working-Class Pubescent Cross," is one of those attempts. Thanks to Krys Malcolm Belc and everyone at Split Lip Magazine for giving it love and attention:

"While we wait in the vestibule out front, that glass purgatory, we shift our weight, gripping our secondhand bowling balls and bags, and wonder how we know we’re going somewhere."

To read more, go here:

Review of You'll Be Fine at Independent Book Review!

2022-02-03T17:19:00.001-08:00

Thank you, Independent Book Review and reviewer Alexandra Barbush for this thoughtful and nuanced review of You'll Be Fine:

"Overall, it’s amusing and heartwarming, and while the characters might be on-the-nose failures, their redeeming qualities shine bright and loud. The reader leaves the novel loving them all and genuinely wishing the best for them."

To read the full review, go here:

An Ode to Independent Bookstores

2021-12-28T09:44:00.017-08:00

Barnes & Noble had a big sale on hardcover books this week: 50% off! Sounds great, but of course stores like B&N can afford to shoulder the loss. Independent bookstores, can't be so generous with their prices, but their owners and employees are rich in knowledge of local writers, of genres and subgenres, and, well, it's not just a job to them. It's a lifestyle, a career. A passion. Wouldn't you rather get a book rec from a place where people live and breathe books than a place that also sells records, puzzles, toys, coffee, and, well, you name it--B&N will sell you anything if they can. Even a shoe horn, probably.

Independent bookstore recommendations introduced me to so many great independent presses and authors through my work as a reading series host at Bird in Hand in Baltimore. They are also a great place to meet other writers, join book and writing groups, and forge connections. And, as a writer, they're open to hosting readings.

Anyway, one of my New Year's resolutions is to continue to support independent bookstores, and I hope you do, too. I'm so grateful to the indies that carry or will order You'll Be Fine, and I'm giving a brief shout-out to some of them here. If you've been meaning to get a copy of You'll Be Fine, definitely consider ordering from one of these great indies!

Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego, California

Elm Street Books, New Canaan, Connecticut

Kizzy's Books and More, Winter Garden, Florida

Virginia Highland Books, Atlanta, Georgia

Prairie Lights Books, Iowa City, Iowa

Book People, Sioux City, Iowa

Carmichael's Bookstores, Kentucky

Atomic Books, Baltimore, Maryland

The Ivy Bookshop, Baltimore, Maryland

The Odyssey Bookshop, South Hadley, Massachusetts

BookHampton, East Hampton, New York

McNally Jackson, New York

Powells Bookstore, Portland, Oregon

One More Page Books, Arlington, Virginia

A Room of One's Own, Madison, Wisconsin

You'll Be Fine is one of the "Best Books We Read This Year" by Independent Book Review!

2021-12-23T08:16:00.000-08:00

Excited that You'll Be Fine was chosen as one of the "Best Books We Read This Year" by Independent Book Review!

"It shows trans and queer people for exactly who they are–people, with the same desires as everyone else: acceptance, understanding, compassion."

To discover all the winners and buy their books, go here.

Interview in Coil Magazine

2021-11-01T17:48:00.005-07:00

Excited to be interviewed in Coil Magazine by writer Gwen Goodkin about my latest novel, You'll Be Fine:

"[Being a writer is] like being the catcher in the rye to a world of sometimes very poorly adjusted people who radiate tension like Chernobyl and you have to dismantle them to avoid meltdown. Other people, I guess, play Sims."

To read more, go here.

Appearance on "On the Record with Sheila Kast," WYPR 88.1 Baltimore

2021-10-21T08:33:00.003-07:00

I had the pleasure of talking with Sheila Kast on WYPR's "On the Record" this morning about my latest novel, You'll Be Fine, in conjunction with my reading with Jim Magruder next week at the Enoch Pratt Free Library If you missed the live broadcast this morning, you can stream it here.

Appearance on Books Are My People Podcast

2021-09-20T21:39:00.000-07:00

I was excited to talk w/Jennifer Caloyeras on the Books Are My People podcast about my new novel You'll Be Fine and how I completely regress when I go home to visit family. We also talked about wildfires and book recs, and I'm pretty sure I mentioned Martina Navratilova in there somewhere.

You can stream the episode at Audible here.

You'll Be Fine is a Buzzfeed Small Presses Book You'll Love!

2021-09-08T10:16:00.006-07:00

Excited that my novel You'll Be Fine was included Buzzfeed's "18 Books From Small Presses You'll Love." Thanks to Wendy Fox for including me!

Playing Favorites

2021-09-05T13:14:00.002-07:00

On the podcast "Finding Favorites" this week, I talked with Leah Jones about You'll Be Fine (NineStar Press) and also my love of abandoned asylums and sanitariums, specifically Rosewood Center in Owings Mills, MD. Leah has added some great jumping point links to explore from our conversation Anyway, I'd love to know if you have any Rosewood (or other hospital) stories! Please feel free to share them in the comments:

The Reviews are In!

2021-09-02T13:11:00.002-07:00

Well, a couple, anyway. ;)

Really excited to wake up to this review from Small Press Picks this morning about You'll Be Fine, who called it "a story of depth, humor, and revelation" and "perceptive and darkly funny."

To read the whole review, go here.

There's also a nice review in LezReviewBooks.com, who said, "This book had a different feel but in a good way. The writing was well done and I was drawn into the book easily. I would definitely recommend this to readers looking for a contemporary drama type of story or for people looking for something different than the usual Sapphic romance. Michalski, has won me over with this one and I would absolutely read her again."

To read the whole review, go here.

We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful

2021-08-26T19:33:00.001-07:00

Well, Morrissey sure did, but Kathy Flann and I don't. In fact, being in writing groups together for many years, we've seen enough rejection to know that successes are few are far between for anyone. As Kathy puts it in our interview at the LitPub:

"If we see other writers only from afar, we are aware only of finished products that get published, often announced online with trumpeting fanfare."

We talk about other things, too, like our new books, taking risks, how everyone sees us as morose. You can check out the whole interview here.

New ficton, "Do Us Part," in Pithead Chapel

2021-08-02T20:06:00.000-07:00

Excited to see my story, "Do Us Part," in the glorious Pithead Chapel!

"When it’s time, you’ll know, my mother says.

But how does she know? One day she was making coffee, and the next she’s on the kitchen floor, massive coronary event."

To read more, go here.

Kirkus Review: You'll Be Fine

2021-07-26T07:45:00.000-07:00

Very excited to receive a Kirkus Review for You'll Be Fine, which called it "an enjoyable story about an adult trying to grow up." You can read the whole review here (and, if you'd like to request an ARC, they're available on NetGalley here).

Review of You'll Be Fine from Bookvark

2021-07-19T19:15:00.003-07:00

Thanks so much for Bookvark for their five-star review of my new novel, You'll Be Fine:

"Quite simply: I fell in love with this story. I got wrapped up in the situations and drama of it all. I didn’t want to put the book down."

To read more, go here.

If you want to grab a copy, it releases August 2nd from NineStar Press.

New Fiction at Lost Balloon Mag: "How to Swim"

2021-05-20T14:01:00.000-07:00

Excited that my flash, "How to Swim," was published by Lost Balloon Mag! Thanks to Chelsea Voulgares and the LB team for publishing it.

"But I felt the strange pangs of desire, being desired."

To read more, go here.

New Fiction: "Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken" at Superstition Review

2021-04-22T08:30:00.000-07:00

"It wasn’t until years later, when Julia began writing him out of the blue, that he’d understood what he’d been feeling was regret. That Julia would one day be smart and beautiful—there has already been hints of it in her soft, curved lips and upturned nose, her long legs, like a colt—and that he might love her. And maybe she might love him. But she was five years younger, and those feelings would never overlap, like sunrise and sunset. At least not until much later. Life suddenly seemed full of endless moments like these, to trip him up, to disappoint him, to complicate his life to paralysis."

My story, "Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken," is in issue 27 of Superstition Review! You can read the whole story or listen to me here it here:

New Fiction, "A Haunted House Story," at Fictive Dream

2021-03-08T09:18:00.001-08:00

I read once that stories about hauntings were just stories about loss, and I think that’s true. I have a new story up today, about hauntings, at ⁦ Fictive Dream:

“They were all adjusting. And then, things would return to the way House liked. House hoped.”

To read more, go here.

New Fiction: Alive, Live at Everyday Fiction

2021-01-27T17:00:00.004-08:00

I have my first story of 2021 out in the world, "Alive, Live," about some brothers trapped on the highway in a wildfire. Big thanks to Everyday Fiction for publishing it!

New Fiction: "Fluke" at The Art of Everyone

2020-10-03T09:35:00.001-07:00

"Your whale's scar cracked long and jagged, like a vein or map, a point to place your finger and trace back to yourself."

I have new fiction, "Fluke," in the inaugural issue of The Art of Everyone, a Publishing Genius project edited by Joseph Young. So excited to be among work by Stephanie Barber, Kathy Fish, and others!

Wigleaf Top 50 Very Short Fictions 2020!

2020-05-31T10:57:00.000-07:00

Surprised and excited that my story “Hide and Seek” was chosen for Wigleaf Mag’s 2020 Top 50 Very Short Fictions! It’s my first time, and thrilled to be among so many amazing writers. Congrats, and thank you, Matt Bell, for judging this year’s nominations-

New fiction, "The Company of Strangers," at FRiGG Magazine

2020-05-10T10:48:00.000-07:00

"You’ve spent your whole life trapped by things you never did, words you never said. You’ve spent your whole life feeling the ache of longing, confusing it for being alive."

Thrilled to have a new story, "The Company of Strangers," up at FRiGG Magazine!

To read more, go here.

Fiction: "The Meteor" at Fractured Lit

2020-05-08T08:02:00.000-07:00

"The meteor fell from the sky and landed in the yard of the couple."

So excited to have my story, "The Meteor," reprinted in the debut issue of Fractured Lit! Some amazing work from Dan Chaon, Cathy Ulrich, Aubrey Hersh, Kathy Fish, Shasta Grant, and Pamela Painter here as well. Thanks to editor in chief, Tommy Dean, on his amazing new project!