Monica Drake‘s first novel, Clown Girl, memorably took readers into a surreal and comic universe as it followed the trials and tribulations of a young woman working as (as the title may suggest) a clown. Her follow-up, The Stud Book, examined the dynamics of a group of friends in Portland as they grappled with questions of work, intimacy, and parenthood. As someone who appreciated and enjoyed both books, I’m happy to see that Future Tense will be releasing Drake’s debut collection, The Folly of Loving Life, early next year. (February, to be specific.) Having read her work at longer lengths, and having seen what she’s done with both realistic and more off-beat settings, I’m eager to see the situations and settings that these stories contain.

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