A01=Mary Kuryla
American short stories
American women writers
animal control officer story
atmospheric fiction
Author_Mary Kuryla
bold female voice fiction
bold narrative style
boundary-pushing fiction
bravado and self-deception narrative
Category=FYB
challenging authority
character-driven narratives
character-driven short fiction
conflicted women
contemporary American short stories
contemporary fiction
contemporary women writers
daring narratives
dark comedy fiction
dark humor
dark humor short stories
darkly comic fiction
defiance and rebellion
disruptive characters
dog hoarding narrative
dramatic storytelling
dysfunctional families
edgy contemporary voices
edgy female characters
edgy short fiction
emotional intensity
eq_anthologies-novellas-short-stories
eq_bestseller
eq_fiction
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
experimental narrative style
experimental prose
experimental short fiction
fearless narratives
female antiheroes literature
female defiance narratives
female perspective
female rage literature
female romanticism literature
feminist literary fiction
feminist short fiction
fiction about lying
fiction resisting moral instruction
fierce female voices
fractured identities
fragmented truth
genre-defying short stories
gritty realism
humor and darkness fiction
identity and selfhood
independent women fiction
intense character studies
intense psychological portraits
introspective resistance characters
irreverent literary voice
literary fiction humor
literary fiction with humor
literary innovation
literary short stories
literary short story collection
modern American literature
modern literary fiction
modern women's voices
moral ambiguity
moral disobedience
morally ambiguous protagonists
morally complex female characters
nonconformist women narratives
nurse fiction stories
peculiar American fiction
pediatric hospital setting fiction
powerful female leads
provocative storytelling
psychological drama
psychological fiction women
psychological realism
psychological suspense
psychological tension
quirky short story collection
raucous literary humor
raw emotional honesty
rebellious women characters
rule-breaking characters
rule-breaking female characters
satirical edge
sharp literary prose
sharp-edged fiction
short fiction anthology
short story collection
social commentary fiction
subversive literature
subversive women's fiction
tangled narrative voices
transgressive fiction
transgressive women's literature
twisted relationships
unconventional heroines
unconventional storytelling
unconventional women characters
unexpected plot fiction
unorthodox storytelling
unpredictable storytelling
unreliable narrator fiction
unreliable narrators
violent urgency fiction
voice-driven fiction
women defying authority
women defying authority fiction
women in crisis
women protagonists fiction
women's autonomy
women's fiction
women's struggles
working class women fiction
Product details
- ISBN 9781625349521
- Dimensions: 140 x 216mm
- Publication Date: 12 Nov 2025
- Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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From a nurse who sees a rattlesnake in the pediatric ICU to an animal control officer convinced she's found her abducted daughter in the house of a dog hoarder, the thirteen stories in Freak Weather are as unpredictable as the atmospheric changes that give this collection its name. With dark and raucous humor, Mary Kuryla creates female characters who, at times, combine a violent urgency with lack of introspection as they struggle to get out from under the thumb of a perceived authority. The intricate language is inseparable from the narrator's conviction; the characters lie with such bravado they're soon tangled up in their own webs. This brand of romanticism in a female character is little tolerated, and Freak Weather's mission—Kuryla's artistic mission overall—is to scratch at the intolerable. Call it bad instructions for moral behavior.
Mary Kuryla has been awarded The Pushcart Prize and the Glimmer Train Short Fiction Prize. Her stories have been adapted into award-winning films that premiered at the Sundance and Toronto International film festivals.
