Bitter Kind
Tara Lynn Masih, James Claffey

Narrated By: Siiri Scott

Duration: 1 hour and 41 minutes

What to expect

In this spare novelette, acclaimed flash fiction writers James Claffey and Tara Lynn Masih collaboratively create an original tale of loss and love, as The Bitter Kind deftly alternates between Stela, the daughter of a ship’s captain, burdened by her family secrets, and Brandy, a Chippewa orphan, haunted by ghost wolves and spirits. The authors cross genres and borders between historical and contemporary, speculative and realistic, presenting two unforgettable characters on a journey toward their inevitable, fateful destination.

Genre

Fiction: general and literary, Religious and spiritual fiction

Listen to a sample

“The supernatural is ingrained in the realism of the landscape, and Masih and Claffey somehow make the ghosts feel as natural as the Montana mountains or the Alabama waterways.”

“Stela and Brandy are living in a pre-COVID-19 world, but through their stories, we know that our feelings of alienation are within the scope of the human experience, and in them can be found great beauty. The Bitter Kind functions as a lightning rod for catharsis.”

“The Bitter Kind is an alchemy, a duet, a gorgeous melding of two of our most treasured literary voices.”

“A story, human and soulful, of place, mysticism, and the hard-won ground we all struggle toward.”

“Touching in its examination of broken things and masterful in its prose.”

“With beautiful imagery and a seamless voice, Masih and Claffey move us through decades as two parallel lives seek solace and healthy human connection.”