Sarah Rose Etter

From an award-winning writer whose work Roxane Gay calls “utterly unique and remarkable” comes a surreal novel about a woman in Silicon Valley who must decide how much she’s willing to give up for success—perfect for fans of My Year of Rest and Relaxation and The Need. A year into her dream job at a cutthroat Silicon Valley startup, Cassie finds herself trapped in a corporate nightmare. Between the long hours, toxic bosses, and unethical projects, she also struggles to reconcile the glittering promise of a city where obscene wealth lives alongside abject poverty. Ivy League grads complain about the snack selection from a conference room with a view of houseless people bathing in the bay. Startup burnouts leap into the paths of commuter trains and men literally set themselves on fire in the streets. Though isolated, Cassie is never alone. From her earliest memory, a miniature black hole has been her constant companion. It feeds on her depression and anxiety, its size changing in relation to her distress. The black hole watches, but it also waits. Its relentless pull draws Cassie ever-closer as the world around her unravels. When her CEO’s demands cross an illegal threshold and she ends up unexpectedly pregnant, Cassie must decide whether the tempting fruits of Silicon Valley are really worth it. Sharp but vulnerable, funny yet unsettling, Ripe portrays one millennial woman’s journey through our late-capitalist hellscape and offers a brilliantly incisive look at the absurdities of modern life.

A Novel

Ripe

"Etter brilliantly, viciously lays bare what it means to be a woman in the world, what it means to hurt, to need, to want, so much it consumes everything." --Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist "I loved every page of this gorgeous, grotesque, heartbreaking novel." --Carmen Maria Machado, author of Her Body and Other Parties A surreal exploration of one woman's life and death against a landscape of meat, office desks, and bad men. The Book of X tells the tale of Cassie, a girl born with her stomach twisted in the shape of a knot. From childhood with her parents on the family meat farm, to a desk job in the city, to finally experiencing love, she grapples with her body, men, and society, all the while imagining a softer world than the one she is in. Twining the drama of the everyday -- school-age crushes, paying bills, the sickness of parents -- with the surreal -- rivers of thighs, men for sale, and fields of throats -- Cassie's realities alternate to create a blurred, fantastic world of haunting beauty.

The Book of X

Tongue Party

Pomegranate

Il libro di X

Robert Lopez

Matt Bell

Patty Yumi Cottrell

Tom Whalen

Lindsey Drager

Jessica Alexander

Meghan Privitello

Alan Sondheim

C. Dylan Bassett

A. T. Grant

Emma Sovich

Joseph Aguilar

N. Michelle AuBuchon

Ruth Baumann

Eric Lloyd Blix

Trevor Calvert

Hunter Choate

Benjamin Clemenzi-Allen

Jon Cone

Stella Corso

Tim Earley

Knar Gavin

Pamela Gesualdi

Lindsay Herko

Matthew Mahaney

Elizabeth Mikesch

Thirii Myint

Eleanor Perry

W. R. Porter

Jessica Richardson

Boyd Spahr

Adam Strauss

Sara Veglahn

The eleventh issue of Caketrain, featuring new work from Joseph Aguilar, Jessica Alexander, N. Michelle AuBuchon, C Dylan Bassett, Ruth Baumann, Matt Bell, Eric Lloyd Blix, Trevor Calvert, Hunter Choate, Benjamin Clemenzi-Allen, Jon Cone, Stella Corso, Patty Yumi Cottrell, Lindsey Drager, Tim Earley, Sarah Rose Etter, Knar Gavin, Pamela Gesualdi, A.T. Grant, Lindsay Herko, Robert Lopez, Matthew Mahaney, Elizabeth Mikesch, Muxxi, Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint, Eleanor Perry, W.R. Porter, Meghan Privitello, Jessica Richardson, Alan Sondheim, Emma Sovich, Boyd Spahr, Adam Strauss, Sara Veglahn, Tom Whalen. Edited by Amanda Raczkowski, Joseph Reed, Tanner Hadfield and Katy Mongeau.

Caketrain

Sarah Rose Etter

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