Disembark

Disembark

Stories

Written by: Currin, Jen

Award–winning author Jen Currin presents remarkable and sometimes magical new stories of queer friendship and love, against the backdrop of city life.

The stories in Disembark feature queer characters navigating new worlds, new circumstances, and new methods of relating to the people around them. With resonant imagery and clear, lyrical prose, Jen Currin weaves vibrant narratives showcasing queer relationships—be they platonic, romantic, or somewhere in between. A banshee shacks up with a lesbian couple in a rocky relationship, a lonely teen is gifted a knife by their mother’s boyfriend, a queer woman finds herself heartbroken when her best friend fails her at a crucial moment, and a young alcoholic hashes things out with their mother in the afterlife. In modes both realist and fantastic, the profound and eloquent stories in Disembark provide a glimpse into the unexpected, offering insight into the ways we relate in this world and in worlds beyond.

Award–winning author Jen Currin presents remarkable and sometimes magical new stories of queer friendship and love, against the backdrop of city life.

The stories in Disembark feature queer characters navigating new worlds, new circumstances, and new methods of relating to the people around them. With resonant imagery and clear, lyrical prose, Jen Currin weaves vibrant narratives showcasing queer relationships—be they platonic, romantic, or somewhere in between. A banshee shacks up with a lesbian couple in a rocky relationship, a lonely teen is gifted a knife by their mother’s boyfriend, a queer woman finds herself heartbroken when her best friend fails her at a crucial moment, and a young alcoholic hashes things out with their mother in the afterlife. In modes both realist and fantastic, the profound and eloquent stories in Disembark provide a glimpse into the unexpected, offering insight into the ways we relate in this world and in worlds beyond.

Published By House of Anansi Press Inc — May 14, 2024
Specifications 264 pages | 5.5 in x 7 in
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Excerpt
Written By

JEN CURRIN is the author of seven books, including Hider/Seeker: Stories, which won a Canadian Independent Book Award and was named a 2018 Globe and Mail Best Book, and The Inquisition Yours, which won the 2011 Audre Lorde Award and was a Lambda finalist. Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, on the traditional territories of the Multnomah, Chinook, Clackamas, and other tribes, Currin studied with Martín Espada and John Ashbery before moving to Canada in 2002. They live in New Westminster, BC, on unceded Qayqayt, Kwantlen, Kwikwetlem, and Musqueam territories and teach creative writing and English at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

Written By

JEN CURRIN is the author of seven books, including Hider/Seeker: Stories, which won a Canadian Independent Book Award and was named a 2018 Globe and Mail Best Book, and The Inquisition Yours, which won the 2011 Audre Lorde Award and was a Lambda finalist. Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, on the traditional territories of the Multnomah, Chinook, Clackamas, and other tribes, Currin studied with Martín Espada and John Ashbery before moving to Canada in 2002. They live in New Westminster, BC, on unceded Qayqayt, Kwantlen, Kwikwetlem, and Musqueam territories and teach creative writing and English at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.


Disembark is profoundly resonating, sometimes humorous, but always satisfyingly in its astonishing, fantastical scenarios. Currin is a remarkable writer whose stories examine how characters navigate the unexpected and find new meaning and emotion in places where us ordinary mortals dare not go. A terrific collection.

” —Lindsay Wong, author of The Woo-Woo and Tell Me Pleasant Things about Immortality

Disembark is a deliciously sensual collection of stories. From haunted love to the last gasp of the patriarchy, each tale is imaginative and compelling—like watching the queerest season of Black Mirror. How does Currin do it? How can a chronicle of such achingly human complexities still feel like a heart salve? Shhh, friends, just read on!

” —Carleigh Baker, author of Last Woman and Bad Endings