Chauna Craig’s The Widow’s Guide to Edible Mushrooms was published by Press 53 (a great home to short fiction writers). She was kind enough to answer some questions for us.
EWN: Your short story collection, The Widow’s Guide to Edible Mushrooms, was published in 2017. What story within the collection had the earliest publication history outside of being in the collection, and what was that history?
CC: The opening story, “Thirsty,” was actually first published in Ascent in 1998, nearly twenty years before the collection was released. It worked thematically with the other, later stories and so, after a few changes, I included it.
EWN: How did the publication of this particular collection come about? Were you solicited by the publisher, win a contest, agent submission, etc.?
CC: Another author recommended I send my collection to the small press where she’d published her book because she thought it was a good fit. I sent the collection, got a contract, and went through two rounds of edits. Then the publisher decided to discontinue the press. She said she would honor the contract, but my book would have been the last one with this press, and I knew it wouldn’t get the support it needed. I pulled the book (and felt quite bummed about it), but another of that press’s authors reached out and suggested I contact Press 53. Publisher Kevin Watson took on the book, and has done a wonderful job with all aspects of the process. I’ve been very lucky with the generosity of other writers.
EWN: Where do short stories fit within your life as an author? Primary form to work with, or something you write when an idea hits, or …?
CC: I love the intensity of the short story. I can plunge into a character’s life during some crucial experience, see what comes of it, then escape. Lately I’ve been enthralled with the possibilities of the essay, but writing short stories gives me the satisfaction of living other lives, however briefly, and I know I’ll keep going back to that.
EWN: Where do short stories fit within your life as a reader?
CC: I’m one of the few people I know who regularly buys and reads short story collections. I teach four classes a semester and have anywhere from two to five kids living in my blended household at one time, so I need short stories! I love that I can be transported to another world and have a “complete” adventure in one sitting. With novels, I sometimes get too busy to stay connected to the characters and developing plot, so I’m grateful for the bursts of plot and character that the short story provides.
EWN: How will you be celebrating National Short Story Month this May?
CC: I am determined to finish all the stories in the three collections I bought most recently: Deb Olin Unferth’s Wait Till You See Me Dance, Michelle Ross’s There’s So Much They Haven’t Told You, and Carmen Miranda Machado’s Her Body and Other Stories. I’ve read at least one in each, and they’re wonderful evidence that short fiction as a genre is thriving!
EWN: Thank you very much for your time!
Chauna Craig’s debut short story collection is available from her publisher Press 53 and on Amazon. The book is a Next Generation Indie Book Award Winner in the Short Fiction category, a Foreword/INDIES finalist for Short Stories, and a finalist for the High Plains Book Award in two categories, Short Stories and First Book. www.chaunacraig.com
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