We’re joined today by Lara Ehrlich, a writer, editor, and longtime friend (she and Tom go back 20 years, which seems impossible). Her first story collection, Animal Wife, was published by Red Hen Press back in 2020, and her first novel, Bind Me Tighter Still, will publish in 2025, also from Red Hen. She also hosts a conversation series, Writer Mother Monster, and is the founder and director of Thought Fox Writers Den.

We chat about her work as well as Wild Milk: Stories by Sabrina Orah Mark, published by Dorothy, A Publishing Project. It’s a fantastic collection: feral, fleshly, and truly wild in its imagination and skill. We spend a great deal of the episode just digging into all the things that make these stories work and the many, many things we don’t understand how Mark pulls off so well. One of our favorite conversations so far!

Authors mentioned (another curriculum for you!):

Lydia Davis

Karen Russell

Kelly Link

Katherine Dunn

Ali Smith

Marie Ndiaye

Angela Carter

Elizabeth McCracken

Aimee Bender

Amber Sparks

Amelia Gray

Ramona Ausubel

To hear more from Lara follow her on Instagram (@lara.ehrlich) and Twitter (@TheLaraEhrlich), and follow Thought Fox on Instagram (@thoughtfoxwritersden) and Twitter (@ThoughtFoxDen). And be sure to pre-order Bind Me Tighter Still from your preferred indie bookseller!

Click here to subscribe to our Substack and find us on the socials: @lostinredonda just about everywhere.

Music: “The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys” by Traffic

Logo design: Flynn Kidz Designs