A Cylindrical Object on Fire in the Dark (Paperback or Softback)

A Cylindrical Object on Fire in the Dark is a collection of short stories and prose works that explores the elemental aspects of storytelling--from word to sentence to character to gesture to narrative. It is concerned with the question of why words do what they do, why sentences do what they do, and why humans do what they do.

Holly Myers is a writer, critic and curator currently based in New Mexico. Her fiction has appeared in the Antioch Review, Zyzzyva and Joyland. Her story "The Guest House" was anthologized in New California Writing 2012 (Heyday) and an excerpt of her first novel was published in "Gen F: An Anthology of Short Stories for the Comic Tragedies of Our Times," edited by Gordy Grundy. Her art writing and criticism has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the LA Weekly, the New York Times, Art Review, Art + Auction and Modern Painters, among other publications. She is the co-editor of Rabble, an imprint of Insert Blanc Press that aims to foster innovative critical writing.

"Holly Myers is a great writer!" --Llyn Foulkes

"My view of reality exploded while reading A Cylindrical Object on Fire in the Dark. Myers taps into abstract feelings and existential angst with wit and eloquence, offering a twisted, but somehow elegant, picture of our existence." --Analia Saban

"A Cylindrical Object on Fire in the Dark is as visually evocative and enigmatic as its title. Myers' prose resembles a film of a mythical and very difficult road trip, a series of mini and maxi dramas, deeply moving and touching down somewhere beyond narrative, where the silences are as meaningful as the words." --Lucy R. Lippard

"I still remember first reading Holly Myers' art writing, it was infused with such rich and visceral description, such resonant conceptual observation. In A Cylindrical Object on Fire in the Dark, her introspection and invention of new structures gives voice to an honesty far out of reach to most of us. These short pieces grab and awaken us to the ever present truth of being human, both in relationship to others and to ourselves. They ignite our awareness of the profoundly vivid reality of everyday life. A Cylindrical Object on Fire in the Dark is a brave exploration into what is possible within the short story structure. Myers' creativity is on full display and the result is a hauntingly honest work of art that illuminates what it means to be truly awake in the everyday." --Uta Barth