Here In The (Middle) Of Nowhere

(Paperback)

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In this bold hybrid collection of poetry, flash fiction, and Afrofuturism sci-fi, the award-winning interdisciplinary writer and author ofSide Notes from the Archivistexplores what happens when god is a Black woman in a town. What happens when there are multiple universes in the middle of nowhere

And what if in each universe there reigned other Black woman gods One million versions of god, and one million saints to watch over us And what if this Black woman god were placed here on earth

These are just a few of the questions Anastacia-Rene asks in this daring and mind-bending hybrid collection. Hers is a universe of striking varietymonsters, nontraditional saints, witches, zombies, the couple in the apartment next door, the wise elders from down the block, and gods watching over us allas well as community and connectedness.

With a prose storyline and characters that connect through family, time, and place, Anastacia-Rene paints world(s) rich with wonder and the paranormal as she peers into the lives of everyday people and spectacular creatures inhabiting not just our neighborhoods, but other dimensions. Here in the (Middle) of Nowhereis about interstellar ancestry, community and spirituality. It is about the things we invoke, conjure, and rely on to maintain joy as we keep it moving through difficult eras. Anastacia-Renes power imbues her spellbinding storytelling with lovingly rendered characters brought to life in lyrical poetry. She builds worlds within worlds and dares us to fully see and love ourselves in all our complexity.

Reviews

"In Anastacia-Rene's hands, everything 'above & below & in the middle' is teeming with life--stretching beyond the margin--vintage and young at the same time. A gumbo both peaceful and pleasureful and impossibly wrought with the pain of context and intention. The poems of everything, everywhere, all at once. And ain't that the Blackest, most alive thing to behold" -- Aurielle Marie, author of Gumbo Ya Ya

"The poetic verve that Anastacia-Rene has brought to Side Notes from the Archivist is now brought beautifully and vividly to bear in Here in the (Middle) of Nowhere. This is conjure prose, passages and stories invoking ancestral voices, voices layered, down deep and up soaring, longing, loving, living and not living . . . This is bold invocation. You've been called."
-- Rick Simonson, Elliott Bay Book Company

Author Bio

Anastacia-Renee is an award-winning cross-genre writer, educator, interdisciplinary artist, TEDx speaker, and podcaster. She is the author of (v.), Forget It, and Answer(Me), and her work has been anthologized in a number of literary outlets, including Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of African American Poetry, Spirited Stone, Lessons from Kubotas Garden, Seismic, Seattle City of Literature, Foglifter, Cascadia Magazine, Pinwheel, The Fight and the Fiddle, Glow, The A-Line, Ms. Magazine, Spark, Obsidian Literature and Arts in the African Diaspora, Crab Creek Review, Alta, and Catapult. She and has received fellowships and residencies from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, VONA, Artist Trust, Jack Straw, Ragdale, Mineral School, Hypatia in the Woods, and the New Orleans Writers Residency. She lives in Seattle, Washington.