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futuretensebooks.bsky.social
Future Tense Books
@futuretensebooks.bsky.social
3.6K followers 770 following 58 posts
30+ years of fine books and endless love in Portland, Oregon. We publish daring literary books by writers you should get to know. Editors: Kevin Sampsell (PDX) and Emma Alden (Philadelphia).
Visit us at www.futuretensebooks.com
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futuretensebooks.bsky.social
Future Tense Books @futuretensebooks.bsky.social · Nov 12
Hello friends. We're in the process of quitting the toxic landscape of tweets and Xs. Please follow us here so we can rebuild in a better social community. Much love, Kevin & Emma and the Future Tense family (which includes Susan, our very popular office manager, pictured below).
futuretensebooks.bsky.social
Your new favorite snack reading.
jrobertlennon.com J. Robert Lennon @jrobertlennon.com · 11d
This new @dieddisappointed.bsky.social book is astounding. Sorry it’s greasy, blame the snyders pretzel company
NIGHT PIE Both of us are still up. Why can't we go to sleep? Who knows. But somebody made pie! Did you make the pie? Well, I didn't make the pie. I guess it's true what they say. Sometimes the night makes the pie.
November 11, 2025 at 5:01 PM
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dieddisappointed.bsky.social
new xmas story from the new collection:
joshuahebburn.bsky.social Joshua Hebburn @joshuahebburn.bsky.social · 6d
My favorite story firm @dieddisappointed.bsky.social's new collection.
November 10, 2025 at 2:14 PM
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xraylitmag.bsky.social
we have a story by Shane Kowalski @dieddisappointed.bsky.social !

in the story Murphy – a professional in the city whose life makes him feel so confused that at times he wonders if he’s had a stroke – visits his friend Malone.

a great story ! & a great ending

xraylitmag.com/beckettian-b...
BECKETTIAN by Shane Kowalski
Murphy was visiting Malone. It had been a while since they had seen each other. Murphy being busy in the city, while Malone had lingered in the countryside. Murphy remembered those dark country roads,...
xraylitmag.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:15 PM
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neonpajamas.bsky.social
Shane Kowalski

@dieddisappointed.bsky.social
@futuretensebooks.bsky.social
SCAM LIKELY There’s never a bruise like childhood… The years go by like a single car driving down the road with its headlights off. All those calls and texts asking you if you’re you. No, sorry, haven’t been for a long time…
November 9, 2025 at 2:32 PM
futuretensebooks.bsky.social
Mid-September in Portland and it's finally raining for real real. And after we tidied up the Future Tense inventory closet, we decided to mark some stuff down. It's a good day to order some books!
futuretensebooks.com/shop/
Shop | Future Tense Books
futuretensebooks.com
September 14, 2025 at 6:03 PM
futuretensebooks.bsky.social
We can't wait to publish the new Shane Kowalski {@dieddisappointed.bsky.social} collection, Are People Out There. You can claim your October copy now!
futuretensebooks.com/product/peop...
September 6, 2025 at 8:08 PM
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dieddisappointed.bsky.social
You can now pre-order my new collection of stories, Are People Out There. It drops 10.31.25 via @futuretensebooks.bsky.social: futuretensebooks.com/product/peop...
PRE-ORDER: Are People Out There by Shane Kowalski | Future Tense Books
futuretensebooks.com
September 3, 2025 at 7:53 PM
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dieddisappointed.bsky.social
i have a story up at Cleveland Review of Books. it's the title story of my forthcoming collection with @futuretensebooks.bsky.social. the story is about a baby.
Are People Out There - Cleveland Review of Books
I decided to become my friend’s baby. My friend is someone I know from high school. We’ve been friends for years. Now she is married to a man, a CPA or MBA or CEO, and they have a baby.
clereviewofbooks.com
August 20, 2025 at 10:32 PM
futuretensebooks.bsky.social
"The result is an insatiable discomfort coupled with the determination to just keep reading and un-fuzz the whole thing."
We love this review of Diana Orepeza's amazing book.
Fiction Review: Tara Van De Mark Reads Diana Oropeza’s Debut Collection An Incomplete Catalog of Disappearance
An Incomplete Catalog of Disappearance by Diana Oropeza arrived by mail, slipped out of the envelope, through my hands, and onto the hallway floor. The size of a passport, it landed next to a …
heavyfeatherreview.org
August 8, 2025 at 7:04 PM
futuretensebooks.bsky.social
We love seeing reviews and ratings of our books on Goodreads. For small presses, this is hugely important.
Hint hint. 😉
Easy Tiger
A dunce cap on a dog. The world’s largest sausage. A gi…
www.goodreads.com
August 6, 2025 at 6:15 PM
futuretensebooks.bsky.social
Wonderful event last night at Powell’s with @wendyortiz.com in conversation with @emillygprado.bsky.social

(Wendy, Emilly, and Kevin)
July 31, 2025 at 6:43 PM
futuretensebooks.bsky.social
Tonight!! ✨
wendyortiz.com Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · Jul 28
We’ve got cooler temperatures in LA than Portland rn 🤪 Hope to see you Wednesday!
POWELL'S BOOKS PRESENTS WENDY C. ORTIZ WITH EMILLY PRADO Image of EXCAVATION Image of HOLLYWOOD NOTEBOOK Image of BRUJA: A DREAMOIR POWELL'S CITY OF BOOKS | WEDNESDAY, JUL. 30 • 7 PM
July 30, 2025 at 6:19 PM
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neonpajamas.bsky.social
hell yeah brother

@pizamapress.bsky.social
@futuretensebooks.bsky.social
@parkeryoung.bsky.social
July 29, 2025 at 12:58 AM
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neonpajamas.bsky.social
Did you miss the Easy Tiger virtual launch on Sunday? You can rest easy now, because the full reading is up on YouTube!

🐅🐅🐅

youtu.be/HymLeGr6zVs

@garybarwin.bsky.social
@vikshirley.bsky.social
@markleidner.bsky.social
@futuretensebooks.bsky.social
July 29, 2025 at 3:51 PM
futuretensebooks.bsky.social
Nice to see @parkeryoung.bsky.social on Aaron’s list. 🙌
aaronburch.bsky.social Aaron Burch @aaronburch.bsky.social · Jun 11
was asked for "a list of 5-10 or so recent collections you want to vouch for" and so threw this together, and am counting it as my "writing" for the day
Here's a list of 8 recent (all from just the last year or two, all from indie/smaller presses) collections which I love and think deserve more readers. A very biased list! I think all of them are books I've blurbed, or the author is a friend, or someone I've published... and sometimes all three. I'm probably forgetting something incredibly obvious, but these were the first 7 that jumped out, when thinking about this and scanning my bookshelf. Cheap Therapist Says You're Insane by Parker Young (Future Tense Books) This book feels like a classic example of a story collection exemplifying "the whole is greater than the sum of the parts." I'd read some of these stories here and there, but reading them all together felt like a revelation. They sucked me in and made me see the world through Parker's eyes, and story-by-story, I fell more in love with that vision and these stories and this book. Sad Grownups by Amy Stuber (Stillhouse Press) I honestly and earnestly believe one of the best story collections of the century (so far). Up there, in my estimation, with Danielle Evans and Andrew Porter and Lori Ostlund. (Which, if you don't know those writers or my affinity for them, is among my highest of compliments. And also: go read them too!) Horse Girl Fever by Kevin Maloney (Clash Books) Kevin is one of my favorite writers. Favorite people. His writing is full of drugs and chaos, all condensed into razor sharp sentences where anything can happen, in ways that often (always) reminds me, and I hope reminds every writer who reads him, that you can do whatever you want in a story. Hey You Assholes by Kyle Seibel (Clash Books) I'm jealous at how good Kyle is and how strong this collection is. He has this storytelling voice in ways that often feels almost like a monologue, told by the funniest, best storyteller character you've ever met. Girl on Girl by Emily Costa (Rejection Letters) Emily is probably my favorite writer of adolescent awkwardness and struggles, and this collection is exhibit A... and B and... however many letters for how many stories there are in it. Each feels familiar and true in ways that are embarrassing and cringey, and also filled with humor and making you want to read more. Magic Can't Save Us by Josh Denslow (University of New Orleans Press) It isn't really represented in this list, but I've been a real fan lately of collections that find some interesting/creative but more roundabout way to be "linked." These stories don't have any recurring characters or places or anything, but all are relationship/breakup stories and in some way feature a magical creature (centaur, unicorn, mermaid, etc.). They are fun, and funny, and full of heart, and feel honest and true in ways that sometimes you can only access through the supernatural. The Nothing by Lauren Davis (Yes Yes Books) This book snuck up on me. I wrote in my blurb, "There are ghosts in these stories. Sometimes literal, other times only in metaphor or feeling," and, indeed, these stories pulse with ache and feeling. They get inside you and haunt you, in the best way. My Prisoner and Other Stories by Tyler McAndrew (The Ohio State University Press) This book is forthcoming in a few months, out in September 2025, and I hope it finds the readers it deserves. I've read it a couple times already, and will likely soon be revisiting it for a third time for an interview with Tyler, and what a treat to have a book you want to, and get excited to, revisit. Here's what I said in my blurb: “These stories orbit misunderstandings, mishaps, miscommunications, each shining a spotlight on a character seeking and aching for some kind of connection, the very thing I desire from a short story, from art—to be pulled into its orbit, to be made to feel a connection. If you’re reading this now, I’m excited for and jealous of you spending time with…
July 26, 2025 at 6:34 PM
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havehashad.com
a wonderful, wonderfully odd, and kinda perfectly "Kowalski-y" story today from Shane Kowalski!

"I read a book review that ended with the reviewer explaining how he was going to kill himself when this review was published. It certainly was a shock!"

https://www.havehashad.com/tiaoz
Typical by Shane Kowalski
I read a book review that ended with the reviewer explaining how he was going to kill himself when this review was published. It certainly was a shock! For most of the previous 1,500 words, the…
www.havehashad.com
July 21, 2025 at 1:29 PM
futuretensebooks.bsky.social
Rob McLennan on Evan Nicholls' Easy Tiger. 🐅
@robmclennan.bsky.social
Evan Nicholls, Easy Tiger
EASY TIGER The tiger makes it all so easy, the way it sweeps the woman’s house, packs a satsuma for her snack, accounts for the taxes. The...
robmclennan.blogspot.com
July 17, 2025 at 4:39 PM
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neonpajamas.bsky.social
I'm hosting a super cool virtual reading at the end of the month to celebrate Evan's new book! Featuring some of my favorite writers on this planet

RSVP for free: bit.ly/easytigerlaunch

@markleidner.bsky.social / @vikshirley.bsky.social / @garybarwin.bsky.social / @futuretensebooks.bsky.social
EASY TIGER: a virtual reading, Evan Nicholls reading from his new book, Easy Tiger, July 27 at 4pm ET, with readings from Mark Leidner, Vik Shirley, Gary Barwin, and Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi
July 9, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Reposted by Future Tense Books
bartonsmock.bsky.social
@futuretensebooks.bsky.social
July 15, 2025 at 3:09 AM
futuretensebooks.bsky.social
This is going to be so fun to watch! 😍🤩😮
neonpajamas.bsky.social Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪 @neonpajamas.bsky.social · Jul 9
I'm hosting a super cool virtual reading at the end of the month to celebrate Evan's new book! Featuring some of my favorite writers on this planet

RSVP for free: bit.ly/easytigerlaunch

@markleidner.bsky.social / @vikshirley.bsky.social / @garybarwin.bsky.social / @futuretensebooks.bsky.social
EASY TIGER: a virtual reading, Evan Nicholls reading from his new book, Easy Tiger, July 27 at 4pm ET, with readings from Mark Leidner, Vik Shirley, Gary Barwin, and Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi
July 9, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Reposted by Future Tense Books
pizamapress.bsky.social
10 collections from 2025 we can’t stop thinking about ✨📚

@yoadrianididit.bsky.social / @malarkeybooks.bsky.social / @josehernandezdz.bsky.social / @patrycjasara.bsky.social / @tinhouse.bsky.social / @coppercanyonpress.bsky.social / @sarabandebooks.bsky.social / @futuretensebooks.bsky.social
June 28, 2025 at 3:16 PM
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robmclennan.bsky.social
At the wee one’s final weekly ukulele lesson of the season, moving through two very cool titles by Future Tense Books, by shane kowalski and Evan Nicholls, // @futuretensebooks.bsky.social
June 25, 2025 at 8:20 PM
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futuretensebooks.bsky.social
Pssst. If you type the word Warehouse in the discount code, you'll get 35% off of everything (until the end of June). Including the newest by Evan Nicholls. And other classics from @parkeryoung.bsky.social @dieddisappointed.bsky.social @gkhudson.bsky.social @tatianaryckman.bsky.social & more. 🔥
June 17, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Reposted by Future Tense Books
allisonanne.com
just received a copy of EASY TIGER by evan nicholls from @futuretensebooks.bsky.social, what a treasure!

go pick up some books and get 35% off through the end of the month by using code WAREHOUSE!

futuretensebooks.com
the cover of EASY TIGER by evan nicholls, published by future tense books — the design is largely black with white knockout text and a small strip at the top showing a portion of a collage a hand with the interior of the book, showing a collage and a poem titled “married to the job”
June 17, 2025 at 7:05 PM
futuretensebooks.bsky.social
Pssst. If you type the word Warehouse in the discount code, you'll get 35% off of everything (until the end of June). Including the newest by Evan Nicholls. And other classics from @parkeryoung.bsky.social @dieddisappointed.bsky.social @gkhudson.bsky.social @tatianaryckman.bsky.social & more. 🔥
June 17, 2025 at 6:52 PM