Welcome to another installment of If My Book, the Monkeybicycle feature in which authors shed light on their recently released books by comparing them to weird things. This week Jules Archer writes about Little Feasts, her new story collection just published by Thirty West Publishing.
If Little Feasts were a mythical monster it’d be a kraken. An unhealthy, twisted monster hidden below the deep. Ensnared in its thrashing legs, it’d take you for a wild, weird ride. Afterwards, you’d have whiplash. And you’d be glad for it.
If Little Feasts were an injury it’d be a splinter, sticking under your skin and pricking at all the right times.
If Little Feasts were a holiday it’d be All Hallow’s Eve. The darkest of a dark night where strange creepy crawlies lurk and only the most monstrous people creepy-crawl. Where you’d maybe lower your window blinds (like that would keep everything out), but then, you’d stick two fingers between the slats, opening them a slice to let the night in, unreal and devouring.
If Little Feasts were a laugh it’d be a small chuckle laced with knowing. Maybe the kind you’d hear from behind closed doors, from echoing deep in an alleyway. And you’d pause, stop, wonder, what else is in that chuckle? What kind of knowing? And maybe you’d shiver, cross your arms, walk away. Fast. Because deep down, you know. You heard that chuckle once, a long time ago, bubbling up from under your bed.
If Little Feasts were a woman it’d be the type to drink too long and too hard in bars. A smile like slippery silk. But still, she could walk home at night, all alone, and be fine. That’s because this woman is grit incarnate and a bit mad and though she is sometimes hopeless, she is never helpless. She is a swinging fist, a ringing voice, a loosening coil ready to spring.
Jules Archer is the author of the chapbook All the Ghosts We’ve Always Had(Thirty West Publishing, 2018) and the short story collection Little Feasts(Thirty West Publishing, 2020). Her writing has appeared in various journals, including SmokeLong Quarterly, Pank, Maudlin House, and elsewhere. She lives in Arizona and looks for monsters in strange places. Find her at www.julesjustwrite.com and on Twitter at @julesjustwrite.
