The Young Widower's Handbook now in paperback (+other news)

The title of this post really contains most of the essential information. But: The Young Widower's Handbook is now in paperback. I've never had a paperback release of a book before, so it's exciting to see the novel get another run. It got some really nice reviews last year, including:

• The Washington Independent Review of Books said it opens with, "among the most heartbreaking first chapters in contemporary literature."
• Kirkus Reviews called it, "a quirky, well-told debut." 
• Publisher's Weekly called it "a remarkable debut novel." 
• Seattle Times called it, "a sweetly moving debut" and listed it alongside 3 other debut novels, "that will leave you hungry for what these authors do next."

ALSO: the paperback includes a bonus essay about the origins of the novel, and some discussion questions, for those of you in need of help with your various book-related discussions. Please consider ordering from your local independent bookstore. If that's not an option for you, it's available at Amazon and any other website that sells books. 

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In related news: my forthcoming novel, How to Be Safe, got a starred review in Kirkus Reviews, which called it, "A brilliant, tragically timely second novel," and added, "This novel is an indictment of gun culture, hot-take journalism, and social media, and if that sounds like a miserable premise for a novel, fear not: McAllister is a brave and stylish writer, and Anna is a singular creation... Intensely smart. Sharply written." 

You can pre-order this book right now. I'm also slowly adding some reading and other events to the calendar for April, and I hope to see some of you there. 

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In completely unrelated news, the Eagles won the Super Bowl, and the entire city lost its mind, and I got to write about the game for Buzzfeed, in an article a lot of people loved, and a small handful of people really hated, which was fun. 

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In further unrelated news, I joined Instagram, where I post pictures of such things as: my face, some trees, bad menu fonts, and Not Trash. If these things interest you, you can follow me @realpizzatom. 

News roundup, part 2

A quick roundup of news related to my novel, my life, and my other writing-related activities:

1. NJ.com reviewed The Young Widower's Handbook and said a lot of nice things about it: "Though terminal ennui could become tiresome, McAllister adroitly deals with a major issue: How does one partner keep going after the other dies?"

2. The Seattle Times included TYWH in a roundup of 4 noteworthy debut novels, and also said some very nice things about it.

3. The Washington Independent Review of Books said, "Be warned, this is among the most heartbreaking first chapters in contemporary literature," and also they seemed to like the other chapters a lot too.

4. Shaun Bossio interviewed me for Redivider about my book, my writing routine, and the failure of English departments to articulate their value. 

5. At the end of the month, Mike Ingram and I will be among the many authors featured at the new UntitledTown Book and Author Festival in Green Bay. This will likely involve a like episode of Book Fight, in addition to some other events. Due to time and budget constraints, this looks like the only stop I'll be making in the midwest for now, so if you're near the area, I hope you'll consider coming out. 

6. I wrote a short essay about the inner lives of sports mascots for The Classical, and had a lot of fun with it. It starts like this: 

“The sports mascot ecosystem is a strange and unsettling place. The animals within it act in ways that are both familiar and wholly unexpected. Even if we put aside pressing questions about the suspension of traditional predator-prey relationships during games, and focus on their biographies, we still know so little about the interior lives of these creatures.”

7. As it turns out, I may not be able to make it to DC for the Barrelhouse Conversations & Connections conference, though if you live in the area you should go, because there are so many great people there, and featured authors Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib, Sarah Sweeney, Geeta Kothari, and Tara Campbell are worth the price of admission alone. 

News & Reviews

A couple weeks ago, I drove down to Baltimore for the NAIBA 2016 conference, to meet booksellers and other authors, and, after a very long production process, it felt like I was finally beginning the next (fun) stage of the book process. 

And now, in the past week or so, we've gotten two bits of really good news. 

1. The first review, from Kirkus, calls The Young Widower's Handbook, "A quirky, well-told fiction debut." Read the rest.

2. Barnes & Noble included the novel on their Discover Great New Writers list for Spring 2017. I've been trying to play it cool and act like this isn't very exciting, but it actually is, and I am very grateful to have the whole team at Algonquin (and The Book Group) supporting this thing.