Fantastic . . . enchanting yowls from a big and wild Texas. . . . Parsons’ is an exhilarating, enchanting, charming and irresistible new voice. Imagine the punk rock stylings of the criminally underappreciated Jeff Parker. Add the full-throated roar of weird Karen Russell, plus the deft sparkle of Denis Johnson and all of the gesturing and spooky direction of Carmen Maria Machado. This is real-deal fiction. You’ll want more. . . . Occasionally a debut collection lands with such a wet, happy thud that you immediately start imagining the rest of the writer’s long career. It’s good luck that in this case Parsons is slated for at least one novel.”
—Nathan Deuel, Los Angeles Times
“[A] wild and compassionate debut collection. . . . [Parsons] writes with the unpredictable power of a firecracker, bringing flashes of illumination to people who struggle with disappointment, both in themselves and others. Every story in this collection is beyond remarkable, and Parsons proves herself to be a gutsy country-punk poet with a keen eye and a stubbornly unique sensibility.”
—Michael Schaub, NPR
“Kimberly King Parsons’ weird, intimate, enchanting debut does a service to the short story form. . . . The writing sings at an undeniably pleasing pitch, with many of the sentences hitting such high notes that it feels breathtaking.”
—Lit Hub, “The Best Queer Debuts of 2019”
“Just keeps getting better as you turn the pages. . . . Wisdom and humor are so thick on the ground you could find a sentence worth quoting on every page. . . . Comparisons have been made to Denis Johnson, Karen Russell, Carmen Maria Machado . . . and we’ll add Angela Carter. The Angela Carter of Lubbock, Texas.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“An incredibly satisfying reading experience. . . . Perhaps the greatest strength of this collection lies in its weird, eerie, and sublimely beautiful details of setting and character. . . . Vividly rendered in a Texas setting that bursts off the page like Fourth of July fireworks. Black Light demands the attention of all the reader’s senses.”
—Sarah Neilson, Electric Literature
“Beautiful, strange turns of phrase; surprising syntax; real and regional jewels [are] scattered across every page. . . . In turns both wise and funny, Black Light takes your breath regularly with its elegant observations.”
—Nicole Treska, The Millions
“These are stories bursting with feeling. Stories of heartbreak and humor, lust and friendship. It’s the kind of book that will break your heart while reminding you of the lush possibilities of language.”
—Lincoln Michel, BOMB
“Recalls the work of Katherine Dunn, Alice Munro, and Denis Johnson. But Parsons also charts her own territory with stories that offer the promise of transcendence and desire while simultaneously threatening the pain of regret and loss.”
—Tobias Carroll, Texas Observer
“There is a reckless kind of heat to the tender, broken characters in these stories. . . . Parsons is both unflinching and eloquent in her portrayals of people as they burn and rage.”
—Lauren Kane, The Paris Review
“Parsons’s debut crackles with the frenetic energy of the women who stalk its pages. . . . Parsons’s characters are sharp and uncannily observed, bound up in elastic and electrifying prose. This is a first-rate debut.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Black Light is an unshakable debut, a collection of stories that will grip you under its spell until its closing notes. Compulsively readable, this book is as much a love letter to language as it is to the natural world, the darkened corners of desire, and the absurdities of girlhood. Gutsy, loud, and so very Texas, this one moved me in a tectonic way. You’ll underline every sentence."
—T Kira Madden, Bustle
“In lithe, lyrical prose à la Amy Hempel and Noy Holland, Parsons's short fiction parses the addictions and desires of Texan girls and women, and will break your heart even as it makes you laugh.”
—O, The Oprah Magazine
“[An] assured debut. . . . Imbued with the expanses of their landscapes, Parson’s dozen tales portray characters navigating unavoidable shifts in the realities of their lives.”
—Leah Strauss, Booklist
“The bad-ass gals in these terrific stories are all attitude, and as funny and appealing in their imperfection and thwarted desire as you’ll find in any fiction out there. Parsons opens and ends stories brilliantly. I just finished this book, and I’m going to read it again right away.”
—Amy Hempel, author of Sing to It
★ 2019-10-20
Stories that can make you believe that doing cocaine all day in a cheap motel is fun or that catching bugs is a great way to spend your childhood.
Parsons' debut collection is not long on plot, but wisdom and humor are so thick on the ground you could find a sentence worth quoting on every page. "The first rule of filing is…nothing comes before something." "There are tricks to coping with a surly person you've brought into the world. Focus on the positive." "I have no idea why sports and religion intermingle—they just do. It seems some people take Jesus for a jock." Two characters at the Starlite motel in Houston: "There are only two things people do in places like this….And we've already done all the drugs." Only they haven't—co-workers Jill and Rick are taking a holiday from their lives and from their spouses (code-named Eyelash and Kneecap at a previous happy hour), and new baggies of powder keep turning up right till quittin' time. They are one of many memorable pairs in these stories, several of which are about the blurry line between friendship and love. The narrator of "Glow Hunter" is crazy about her friend Bo, who is just "more brightly lit than the rest of us.…I've seen strangers stop what they're doing to watch her shake sugar into her tea." Bo and the narrator have both been involved with a guy named Jeff, but what they really want is each other. The narrator of "Black Light" is in love with a point guard on the girls basketball team; she is counseled, then consoled by her older brother. (" 'Dick,' he said, done with subtlety. 'She needs dick.' ") Comparisons have been made to Denis Johnson, Karen Russell, Carmen Maria Machado…and we'll add Angela Carter. The Angela Carter of Lubbock, Texas. It has a ring to it.
Just keeps getting better as you turn the pages.
