About the cover: This photograph of a blacktail deer was taken at North Mountain Park in Ashland, Oregon.
Among Animals 2
The Lives of Animals and Humans in Contemporary Short Fiction
“Very fine literary fiction.”
—The Chattahoochee Review
A second collection of critically acclaimed stories that affirm the bond among humans and animals
The relationships among human and non-human animals have captivated writers since the beginning of time—and the ways in which these relationships have evolved (and sometimes have not) continue to inspire writers of contemporary short fiction around the world.
This carefully curated collection of stories explores the ways in which we live among—and often in conflict with—our non-human counterparts. These stories feature animals from the familiar (pets and strays) to the wild (deer and birds) to the less beloved but no less important (cockroaches and fishes).
Within these pages are glimpses of the world through the eyes of those who live among, who rescue, and who study these animals, and these collected tales highlight the ways in which animals and humans understand and challenge one another.
Among Animals 2 continues the tradition of gathering stories from the world’s most gifted contemporary authors—those who pay close attention to the creatures with whom we share our planet, and who inspire us to pay closer attention as well.
Instructor Resources
Among Animals 2 has been adopted by numerous writing and animal studies programs. For more information about each story, please feel free to check out the contributor Q&As on our blog.
Request an exam copy.
Reviews
Praise for Among Animals
“Any animal lover or connoisseur of high-quality fiction will appreciate this collection and the artistry of its contributors.”
—Booklist
“Among Animals is as provocative as it is urgent, and as accessible as it is emotional.”
—The Goose: A Journal of Arts, Environment, and Culture in Canada
Contributors
J. Bowers
Author of “Shooting a Mule”
J. Bowers is a fiction writer whose work has appeared in The Indiana Review, StoryQuarterly, The Portland Review, and other national journals. She holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Missouri and is currently a full-time faculty member in English at Maryville University, St. Louis.
Ramola D
Author of “Exotic Animal Alert: Please Post Widely”
Ramola D’s first short fiction collection, Temporary Lives, was awarded the 2008 AWP Grace Paley Prize in Short Fiction and was a finalist in the 2010 Library of Virginia Fiction awards. Also a poet, teacher, and human-rights activist, she is the recipient of a 2005 NEA fellowship in poetry.
Anne Elliott
Author of “Strays”
Anne Elliott is the author of The Beginning of the End of the Beginning, released by Ploughshares Solos in 2014. Her stories can be seen in Crab Orchard Review, Witness, Hobart, Bellevue Literary Review, Fugue, r.kv.r.y, and others. She lives in Portland, Maine, and is at work on a novel.
Catherine Evleshin
Author of “A Sterile Place”
Catherine Evleshin grew up on a farm in California, then left the rural life for academe and the performing arts. Her stories appear in Agave Magazine, Canary Journal of Environmental Crisis, Gemini Literary Magazine, Fiction Vortex, and Riding Light Review, among other publications.
Nels Hanson
Author of “Julia and the Sea Bear”
Nels Hanson grew up on a small farm in the San Joaquin Valley of California and has worked as a farmer, teacher, and contract writer/editor. His fiction received the San Francisco Foundation’s James D. Phelan Award and Pushcart nominations in 2010, 2012, and 2014. Poems appeared in Word Riot, Oklahoma Review, Pacific Review, and other magazines and received a 2014 Pushcart nomination, Sharkpack Review’s 2014 Prospero Prize, and 2015 and 2016 Best of the Net nominations.
JoeAnn Hart
Author of “It Won’t Be Long Now”
JoeAnn Hart is the author of the novels Float, a dark comedy about plastics in the ocean, and Addled, a social satire about Canada Geese at a country club. Her short fiction, essays, and articles have been widely published, including Orion magazine and Terrain.org.
Claire Ibarra
Author of “Vivarium”
Claire Ibarra is currently in the MFA creative writing program at Florida International University. Her fiction has appeared in many fine literary journals and anthologies, including Natural Bridge, Amoskeag, The MacGuffin, and Torched Anthology. Claire has worked for nonprofits, teaching creative writing to incarcerated women in Florida. In addition to writing fiction, she enjoys poetry and photography.
Rachel King
Author of “A Normal Rabbit”
Rachel King received a BA from the University of Oregon and an MFA from West Virginia University. Her fiction has appeared in Concho River Review, the Farallon Review, and on the Museum of Americana. Her poems have appeared in the Blue Collar Review, the Aurorean, Windover, and the Penwood Review. She lives in Portland, Oregon.
Hunter Liguore
Author of “The Truth of Ten Thousand Things”
C.S. Malerich
Author of “Phoenix Cross”
C.S. Malerich lives and works near the District of Columbia. Her speculative fiction has appeared previously in Ares Magazine, The Again, and the first volume of Among Animals. She is a founding member of the collective DC Stampede, supporting grassroots organizing on behalf of animals, people, and the planet.
Carmen Marcus
Author of “Bight, Tomcat, and the Moon”
Carmen Marcus lives and writes in the British Victorian spa town of Saltburn-by-the-Sea. As the daughter of an Irish mother and Yorkshire fisherman, her writing pulls together the magical and the practical. She has won numerous awards for poetry and fiction, including BBC Radio 3’s New Voice 2015.
Sascha Morrell
Author of “Roo”
Sascha Morrell reads, writes, teaches, and scrambles over rocks on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. She completed her doctoral studies at the University of Cambridge before taking up a post as Lecturer in English at the University of New England (Australia) in 2013. She has published short fiction and poetry in numerous British and Australian literary journals. Her latest creative work explores the relationship between human beings and moths.
Robyn Ryle
Author of “How to Identify Birds in the Wild”
Robyn Ryle started life in one small town in Kentucky and ended up in another just down the river in southern Indiana. Her chapbook, The Face of Baseball, is available from WhiskeyPaper Press. She has stories and essays in CALYX Journal, Midwestern Gothic, Big Truths/Little Fiction, and Bartleby Snopes, among others.
Anthony Sorge
Author of “Captivity”
Anthony Sorge is a high school teacher, writer, and cartoonist from Connecticut. In addition to writing short fiction, Anthony has self-published the comic zine Crust Dogsince 2011 and produces the podcast Another World.
Photo credit: Peter Garver
Laura Maylene Walter
Author of “Lost Pets”
Laura Maylene Walter is the author of Living Arrangements (BkMk Press). Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in the Kenyon Review, The Sun, Poets & Writers, Michigan Quarterly Review, and elsewhere. She was a Tin House Scholar and a past fiction editor of Mid-American Review. She lives in Cleveland.