Baiting the Hook of the Uncanny: A Review of Meredith Alling’s “Sing the Song”

Opening lines can make or break entire novels. Meredith Alling has taken this kind of thinking to heart, as evidenced in the first sentence of her story, “Ancient Ham”: “Once a year the Ancient Ham crawls out of the sewer to sit on a curb and answer questions.” Already the reader intuits that Alling has a deep understanding of flash fiction and knows how to hook readers like Steelheads in spawning season. This lies at the heart of Sing the […]

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“I’m Very Concerned With the Poetry of Them”: Meredith Alling on Writing “Sing the Song”

Meredith Alling’s debut story collection, Sing the Song (available this month from Future Tense Books) is a powerful debut. LitHub named it one of its 16 Books You Should Read This November, and for good reason. The collection is unique, yes, (an ancient ham rolls out from a sewer to tell fortunes in one of the book’s most memorable stories), but it’s Alling’s lyrical, dream-like language that makes Sing the Song a stand out collection. The book is imaginative, odd, and surreal, while still managing to make profound commentary on our everyday world. I spoke with Meredith over email about her writing process, sentence structure, and what we can expect next from this debut.

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Vol. 1 Brooklyn’s November 2016 Book Preview

What does November hold, in terms of books hitting the shelves? We’re glad you asked. As we advance deeper into fall, literary offerings will appear on bookstore shelves from critically acclaimed powerhouses, champions of experimental fiction, writers appearing in translation, and more. There are new editions of cult classics, and the first book from Vol.1 Brooklyn’s founder–all told, a terrific month to be reading. Here are some of the books that have gotten our attention for this month.

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