Because the Sky is a Thousand Soft Hurts

In her brilliant collection BECAUSE THE SKY IS A THOUSAND SOFT HURTS Elizabeth Kirschner fearlessly blends poetry prose memoir and master storytelling into an amalgam that lands like a gut-punch to the soul. I literally found myself taking a deep breath at the beginning and the end of each story to both steel and re-orient myself. There is nothing easy about the magic Kirschner casts; rather its complexity serves to illuminate the indomitability of the human spirit in those deep dark places where it would seem no spirit could survive. This is a devastatingly beautiful book.-Laura Hurwitz Author of Disappear HomeBECAUSE THE SKY IS A THOUSAND SOFT HURTS is a master stroke. Brimming with a hallucinatory spirit these are less stories and more poetic and metaphysical voyages. In this collection Kirschner gives voice to the disturbed and hopeful in her characters psyches-penetrating the repressed thrust into the sublime. In its earlier stories Kirschner brilliantly reinvents the simile with it granting every sentence a double-life; and the later sections prove not only beautiful in their prose but with keen sense of narrative drive. A literary achievement this collection rewards re-reading over and over again.-Jonathan Koven author of Palm Lines and editor of Toho JournalThis collection is a powerhouse of language; its sentences sing with heat and precision. Elizabeth Kirschner expertly crafts the unexpected. These stories leave the reader feeling haunted and moved. They are a mediation on loneliness and the unspoken. Kirschners voice is poetic lyrical and singular. A monumental exploration of beauty in unpredictable places. Kirschner exposes the vulnerable and damaged through the lens of hope and redemption. A stunning collection that will stay with me for a long time.-Erika Nichols-Frazer Editor An Anthology of Mental Health Recovery StoriesReading Elizabeth Kirschners BECAUSE THE SKY IS A THOUSANDS SOFT HURTS is like being enveloped in layers of jeweled robes-each layer intricate with emotional depth and magnificent prose. Kirschners characters brave their lives-family violence; childhood trauma -in scenes so immediate and chilling the reader is dared to both look deeply then look away-in awe. -Sari Rosenblatt author of Father Guards the SheepWe need more voices like Elizabeth Kirschners whose words connote the reality of trauma illness neurodivergence and beauty through the juxtaposition of her own associative metaphors similes and images. A published poet and memoirist she also proves adept at fiction. These are not conventional stories but quantum fictions.-Kevin Richard Kaiser editor-in-chief of Punt Volat and author of An Ethics Beyond: Posthumanist Animal Encounters and Variable Kindness in the Fiction of George SaundersElizabeth Kirschners collection dances on a keen edge-not only between fiction and poetry but hallucination and holiness. This is a collection full of dark corners and glorious twists. Reader take it slowly. Savor it.-Adam Prince author The Ugly Wishes of Beautiful MenKirschners prose is a crucible in which characters causation and language itself are broken down and recast. But it is ultimately our own hearts that emerge pulverized and purified from her fires.-Jonathan Freeman-Coppadge Fiction Editor Oyster River Pages