WOLFBABY

Winner of the Cupboard Pamphlet chapbook contest

This is not the pastel coming of the stork–this is the wolf. In this collection of very short fiction, remnants of bloody bible pages, bath tubs of black oil, and biting teeth are the truth of what it means to mother. Who was the woman you were before your matrescence? What shape did she take after? Wolfbaby relentlessly palpates that gentle give in the gut where the answer is lodged: feel here for the leftover imprint of an infant’s pinch, and know yourself changed.

Praise for Wolfbaby:

“The author Muriel Rukeyser famously said, ‘What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? The world would split open.’ That is what this collection does, over and over again, cleaving the world with its strange and devastating truth. Masterfully written and formally inventive, the stories here shimmer with urgency and truth and surreal beauty. A stunning achievement.” — Kathy Fish, author of Wild Life

“Every story is exacting in its ambiguity, and Holcomb’s brevity underscores, rather than impedes, the breadth and potential meaning of each piece. She wields the small to invoke the profound—story as an atom, or an embryo.” — Gina Thayer for Smokelong Quarterly

Interviews

Interview with Susan Holcomb — Vestal Review, June 2025