We Will Tell You Otherwise - by Beth Mayer (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"What does Beth Mayer's intimate collection of short stories want to tell us? That the dead have much to teach the living, that madness can point the way to clarity, that the burn of departing never cools, that inside abandonment can be redemption. Mayer's prose rattles like bones, proving that no matter how far you live in the margins, you can't escape the telling."-Desiree Cooper

"Beth Mayer's stories unflinchingly explore the tough and the tender sides of family life as well as offering us a window into the lives of those we often prefer not to notice when we pass them in our neighborhoods. I was moved by the deep emotional truths in WE WILL TELL YOU OTHERWISE, and the slyly ironic and often sardonic wit of these stories kept me smiling all the way through. What a lovely collection of stories this is!"-David Haynes

"The stories in Beth Mayer's WE WILL TELL YOU OTHERWISE are indelible treasures, full of poignancy and pathos. Mayer is the best kind of writer-one who doles out her wisdom with humor, who mines the intricacies of love, friendship, and family effortlessly."-John Jodzio

About the Author

Beth Mayer (she/her/hers) is a fiction writer whose first book of short stories, We Will Tell You Otherwise (Black Lawrence Press), received positive reviews in both The Star Tribune and Another Chicago Magazine. Winner of the Hudson Prize, her debut was selected by the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association as a Midwestern Collections Pick. Beth's short stories have appeared in The Threepenny Review and The Sun Magazine, and have been anthologized in American Fiction and New Stories from the Midwest. Her short fiction was named among " Other Distinguished Stories" in the Best American Mysteries series and was a finalist for The Missouri Review's Jeffrey E. Smith Editors' Prize. Beth was a Loft Mentor Series Fiction Fellow and holds an MFA from Hamline University, where she returned to teach fiction. During her full-time tenure at Century College, she established and directed Minnesota State's first Creative Writing Certificate program at a community college. Beth lives south of the Minnesota River with her woodworking husband and impossibly faithful dog. She is at work on her first novel.