Softie

Megan Howell is a DC-based writer. She earned her MFA in fiction from the University of Maryland in College Park, winning both the Jack Salamanca Thesis Award and the Kwiatek Fellowship. Her work has appeared in McSweeney's, The Nashville Review and The Establishment among other publications.

Lobes The Upstairs People Vacuum Cleaner Cherry Banana Turtle Soup Kitty & Tabby Bluebeard's First Wife Devil's Juice Apples and Dresses Melissa, Melissa, Melissa Anita Garcia-Barnes Softie Age-Defying Bubble Bath with Tri-Shield Technology Acknowledgements

"The stories in Softie offer a bold and mesmerizing exploration of visceral grief and desire, of violence and survival, and of the body's capacity for both decay and shimmering afterglow. Expertly blending the strangeness and terror of magic with the strangeness and terror of being alive, this collection introduces Megan Howell as an unforgettable new voice." - Danielle Evans, author of Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self "Howell's collection definitely has a firm place in 'sad girl' literary fiction and carves a needed space for female characters of color that move beyond the stereotypical white, beautiful, rich characters who dominate the subgenre." - Kristen Gentry, author of Mama Said "Megan Howell's Softie is a tender, sometimes absurd, incredibly impressive collection of stories about girlhood and womanhood and otherhood. What she does with these stories, with the wondrous, wandering, and whimsical women they center, is absolutely sublime." - LaToya Watkins, author of Holler, Child: Stories "Smart. Lonely. Rare. Weird. Otherworldly. In Softie, Megan Howell has done something few can: she's made something new. This collection had me heartbroken in the best ways. Softie is the freak anthem I've been waiting for." - Halle Hill, author of Good Women: Stories