All Our Loved Ones Together (2016)
Plenty of new friends are waiting for you inside this collection of eleven strange short stories. The boy with the tree branch growing out of his ear is there, as is the woman who runs the after-school group for the children of shapeshifters. Death’s there, too, of course. He’s on the porch, firing up the barbecue grill as we speak.
Featuring a cover illustration by my partner, Wesley Wong (who also did the illustration seen at the top of this site), All Our Loved Ones Together initially was available in two formats:
As an e-book through either Amazon or Smashwords (and any of the platforms that Smashwords works with) for $2.99 USD. Hey, that format’s still available!
And as a softcover book that I made myself here in my loft. Like The People He Thought He Knew below, this book was a perfect-bound paperback with interior pages printed on 100% recycled paper. Each copy also featured a lovely little strip of decorative Lama Li lokta paper across the cover, because lokta paper is beautiful as well as sustainable, and the cover was laminated for durability.
Only a limited number of tangible copies were available, and I’ve since sold out. If my printer were a sentient being, it would probably be grateful for that fact.
The Book of Horrible Stories (2012)
A short collection of dark fairy tales for modern times. If you want to read about plants that sprout human organs, corpse-filled lakes that appear in people’s front lawns, and husbands that come back from the dead to profess their love, then this is the book for you. Features illustrations by Wesley Wong.
The Book of Horrible Stories was available initially in two formats. The first was a handmade hardcover. It’s no longer available (at least, not unless I manage to find a reasonable substitute for some of the materials), but you can read about how it was made in this old blog post and this one.
The second format was an Amazon e-book, which you can still purchase by going here.
The People He Thought He Knew (2009)
In this collection of short stories, you’ll meet, among others: a twenty-something office assistant who finds herself drained by her job during the day and by a vampire at night; a man whose neighbors run away from him when all he wants to do is organize the annual block party and barbecue; and a father whose Christmas gift to his daughter may come at too great a price, even if it is the biggest toy of the season.
These stories were written during a year spent living in the suburbs of Chicago and, well, were heavily influenced by the setting. Surprise: they’re horror stories. The book is a handmade perfect-bound paperback with interior pages printed on 100% recycled paper and stellar cover art by Christopher Mitten.
A few copies are still available, but… look, they’re rough. And so I’m sitting on them unless someone specifically asks about them.
Questions or comments about any of these books? Please e-mail ohhello@sheilacjohnson.net or let me know via a comment below!
Sheila Johnson 