Exclusive Cover Reveal + Excerpt: POCKETKNIFE KITTY
Happy Monday, ghouls. I wanted to quickly infiltrate your inbox this afternoon to inform you of something very exciting that just went live over on Paste Magazine: a cover reveal + exclusive excerpt drop of Shannon Riley’s upcoming gnarly debut novella Pocketknife Kitty.
Read the full write-up HERE.
If you’d rather stay in your email, here’s Matthew Revert’s full jacket artwork for the book:
We’re pitching Pocketknife Kitty as It Follows meets Promising Young Woman, so if those two comps sound like your kinda thing, I highly encourage you to pre-order a copy directly through GHOULISH.RIP.
All paperback pre-orders from our site also come with a signed author sticker. Here’s evidence of Shannon signing them all earlier this month:
When asked to give a quote about Pocketknife Kitty for Paste’s announcement, here is what she had to say:
"Pocketknife Kitty’s truth lies in its very name: the very thing by which a woman is so often commodified is also her greatest fucking weapon.
“Initially, I just wanted to write a story about revenge. I was going to put my naive, reserved protagonist in an impossible situation, and watch her ruthlessly claw her way through the blood and muck until she came out clean on the other side. I wanted it to be gnarly and as gross as possible, and if I managed to sicken a handful of my more conservative relatives along the way, well then I’m a winner in more ways than one.
“As I developed the story beyond the basic tenets of Sad Girl Gets Revenge, however, other themes gradually surfaced. I began exploring themes of jarring, yet expected loss. I explored the vulnerability of being lonely in increasingly isolating times. I explored the bleakness of modern relationships and the expectations of sexually available women. Of the connection between femininity and mysticism. Of female alliance.
“Once I had a better handle on themes, the rest of Pocketknife Kitty’s story just bled out of me. By the end, the book had a lot more guts. It became a lot more about loss and loneliness than I had originally intended. And instead of making a story about just a victim, the victim became the agent of change, making the move from powerless to powerful. I found importance in highlighting how easily desperate people can be taken advantage of, but then how they can turn their softened belly over and expose their spiny violence on the other side.
“Laying out bare matters of sexual vulnerability, feminine rage, isolation, and crippling grief, I wrote and wrote and watched my protagonist tear her way through the circumstances thrust upon her by the hands that have always held the strings.
“And then I made it as gnarly and gross as possible."
Again, you can pre-order the novella RIGHT HERE IN OUR WEBSTORE and read an excerpt RIGHT HERE ON PASTE MAGAZINE.
You can also log it RIGHT HERE ON GOODREADS.
Are you a reviewer? Download an ARC RIGHT HERE ON BOOKSIRENS.
We’ve actually already gotten a handful of reviews, but I want to instead spotlight a reviewer’s recent did-not-finish message concerning Shannon’s novella, which we feel is a great advertisement by itself:
I didn't realize it was body horror and I have a very weak stomach for that stuff. I made it as far as I could but I started feeling pretty nauseous and finally gave up. I'm sorry! The writing was really good but the subject matter wasn't for me.
Hell yeah, baby. Hell yeah.
Okay - fair warning, tomorrow I’ll be back in your inbox celebrating the release of Justin Lutz’s Give Unto Us. You’re going to be hearing a lot from me this week. We might as well get comfortable together.
—max