Mary Miller's BIG WORLD: buy it now!

If you haven't already preorder Mary Miller's BIG WORLD, you probably should now. We are going to start sending them out tomorrow and all preorders will receive special colored-edged copies, as can be seen in the above admittedly-kind-of-crappy photo. With David Kramer's awesome artwork (on the front and back!), the handheld size (only 4x6!), and especially in tandem with the colored edges, it looks kind of like those old-school pulpy paperbacks. Meaning: awesome.

A few kind words for the book have already started to creep out into the world:

Patrick Rapa, on his blog I Read a Short Story Today, has already read three of the stories in the last week or so and has said:

I loved this story (re: "Pearl"). Kinda charming, too. The trick is the sentences. They're quick and smart. Miller really knows when to tell you and when to let the mystery linger.

and:

Loved this story (re: "Not All Who Wander Are Lost"). Mary Miller is kicking so much ass right now.

and:

Loved this story (re: "Even the Interstate is Pretty"). It's funny and dark and sad and confused. And quick. The dialogue serves real function, nudging the plot and getting the most out of every word. I get these characters, I feel for them, I puzzled over them. Yes! Stories should make you think!

HTMLGIANT received the two story chapbook for subscribers and raved:

The stories are very good. Very, very good. After reading them, I went online and read most everything I could find of hers there... I love the way something core in her work hints at the essential mystery that is our human existence and how she gets at what lurks underneath the minutia of our daily lives during our short time on this planet. I am, without a doubt, profoundly envious of her work.

Both Dan Wickett and Laura van den Berg included it on their lists of books they are most looking forward to in 2009.

Kim Chinquee said:

Big World is a world of wonder. A powerful collection by an amazing writer, these stories stun and delight.

Also, in addition to BIG WORLD, Mary had a chapbook of shorter fiction come out recently: LESS SHINY, from Magic Helicopter Press. For a quick collection of praise for Mary's writing, check out reviews of LESS SHINY and super kind words for some or all of its stories here:

Emerging Writers Network

Miller writes these scenarios well - never seeming to go too far into grittiness or despair, going just far enough to get her point across.  Beyond this grittiness, Miller also shows herself to having a fairly dark sense of humor.

Benjamin Buckholz

The stories in Mary Miller's Less Shiny remind me how I want to write. They do what a good short story should do: capture a chunk of time. But they do it in a way that is not "systematic" or "contrived."

Colin Bassett

i feel like i liked mary miller's book LESS SHINY more than any other book i have read recently.

Matt Bell

Mary Miller's Less Shiny is a near-perfect chapbook, full of prose that's as cutting as it is funny, and I can't recommend it enough. 

I'm sure there are probably other kind words floating around out there as well, but that's what I found with relative ease.

THANKS!

-aaron