A01=Mark Mayer
A12=Jason Stopa
Author_Jason Stopa
Author_Mark Mayer
Body and embodiment
Category=FB
Category=FBA
Category=FMM
Category=FXM
Category=FYB
Character-driven stories
Coming of age
Contemporary fiction
Domestic fiction
Emotional landscapes
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eq_bestseller
eq_fantasy
eq_fiction
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eq_isMigrated=2
eq_modern-contemporary
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Experimental fiction
Family dynamics
First-person narratives
Flash fiction
Formal experimentation
Fragmented narratives
Genre bending
George Garrett Fiction Prize
Grief and loss
Haunted house
Identity and relationships
Jewish American literature
Language and emotion
Liminal spaces
Linked stories
Literary experimentation
Literary fiction
Literary linguistics
Literary prize winner
Magical realism
Mark Mayer books
Mark Mayer fiction
Marriage
Memory and trauma
Metafiction
Multi-perspective storytelling
Multigenre fiction
Parenthood
Philosophical fiction
Prepositions
Psychological fiction
Queer literature
Short fiction
Short stories
Short story collection
Surrealism
Product details
- ISBN 9781680034400
- Weight: 284g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 25 Feb 2026
- Publisher: Texas Review Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Winner of The 2024 George Garrett Fiction Prize, selected by Kaveh Akbar
“We ought to say a feeling of and, a feeling of if, a feeling of but, and a feeling of by,” William James writes. In About, Above, Around, fifty prepositions reveal the subtle syntax of our inner lives, offering a new yet ancient vocabulary for charting how feeling moves within and between and around us. Kaveh Akbar, selecting the collection for the George Garrett Prize, says: “About, Above, Around is thrillingly ambitious and deliciously readable, a remarkable vortex of place and mind and spirit illuminating how our lives are shaped, and how we’re held within them. Mayer has given us one of the most dexterous, impressive books I’ve read in ages.”
“We ought to say a feeling of and, a feeling of if, a feeling of but, and a feeling of by,” William James writes. In About, Above, Around, fifty prepositions reveal the subtle syntax of our inner lives, offering a new yet ancient vocabulary for charting how feeling moves within and between and around us. Kaveh Akbar, selecting the collection for the George Garrett Prize, says: “About, Above, Around is thrillingly ambitious and deliciously readable, a remarkable vortex of place and mind and spirit illuminating how our lives are shaped, and how we’re held within them. Mayer has given us one of the most dexterous, impressive books I’ve read in ages.”
Mark Mayer's first book, Aerialists: Stories (Bloomsbury 2019) was shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. His stories have been published in American Short Fiction, The Kenyon Review, Guernica, River Styx, The Iowa Review, and elsewhere. He is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing in the University of Memphis MFA program.
