bullwinkel-cvr_front-copy.jpg

Author photo by Gabriel Max Starner

It’s always such a pleasure to hold a new book from Austin, Texas, small press A Strange Object. They’re a women-run outfit with an eye for bold writing and creative but unassuming book design. Their catalog is, thus far, humble; although they were founded in 2012, they’ve only published seven books. But each one feels carefully considered. The newest addition to A Strange Object’s line is McSweeny’s Editor Rita Bullwinkel’s debut collection Belly Up. It’s a dense and masterful book. It feels like a jungle in there, with bursts of flash fiction flitting between longer, winding, fleshed-out short stories.

Suzette Smith is the arts & culture editor of the Portland Mercury. Go ahead and tell her about all your food, art, and culture gripes: suzette@portlandmercury.com. Follow her on Twitter, Bluesky,...