I want to thank Netgalley and FSG Books for sending me this e-ARC. (My first!!!) I appreciate it so much.

Let me start with a statement: 'Manywhere' is one of the best short stories collections I have read this year. Period. It was so delightfully written and the characters felt relatable and close. I loved that the collection was varied and that Thomas experimented with different styles throughout it. The best thing? It is a SUPER queer collection and I am so thankful for it. Wow. It felt so warm and special, please you have to read this ASAP!

Thomas' collection of stories is intriguing, timely and reads in one sitting; "Manywhere" delves into the subjects of gender, of belonging and of identity, exploring them in a both delicate and sharp.

Some stories in here ("Bump," "Manywhere," "Taylor Johnson's Lightning Man") were superb. The rest were just okay for me.

I started reading “Manywhere”, a short stories collection, a bit tentatively as I often have my doubts about short stories. I’m quite traditional when it comes to them, I need them to have a story, a thought, a punch, something to make it feel complete for me. But I didn’t have to worry, as these stories are so well-thought, all of them leaving you with feelings. Some with stronger, some weaker but I guess that’s a given with a collection of short stories.

The characters in “Manywhere” are very different but what connects them is their queerness and the way they are looking for their place in the world. The sense of belonging seems to be often the aim of the protagonists but of course, ‘to belong’ may mean so many things for different people. One would try to find a connection with someone whose story from the past became their own inspiration. One would look for a place they could call “theirs.” Another one – a family, someone who would accept them fully just as they are. These pursuits were sometimes fascinating, sometimes heart-breaking and sometimes I couldn’t connect with them at all, but every time it was interesting to read about.

“Manywhere” is very human in how it combines tenderness, humour, sadness and even simmering rage into one cocktail. I found some of the stories a bit disturbing, some very melancholic… Surely, it was a very good trip into the world of short stories and I recommend this collection to everyone. Especially, because it also undermines lots of expectations about gender and identity, which is always a good exercise for one’s mind.

This book was well written but not for me. I enjoyed some of the stories more than others, but overall this wasn't my favorite.

I first encountered this author through their story "Bump," which was published in The Atlantic, and was pleased to find they had a short story collection coming out. This book is literary, it is queer, it is full of trans characters, it has the voices of our ancestors, it is steeped in a kind of dark magical realism. It was a rare treat and I feel as though I couldn't ask for more from a book.

Several of the stories quoted weird or fantastical letters, journal entries, newspaper articles, and court transcripts. I assumed the quotations were inventions of the author's as the quotations matched the style of the stories. I was so surprised to come across the notes at the end which gave the citations for each of these completely real quotations. Then I felt that I understood the inspiration for the stories more. This book gave me a new feeling, which I think I can name: I didn't know I felt a restless hunger for fanciful and complex fiction about transgender ancestors, until it was finally slaked.

I gratefully received a digital ARC of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

(Posted on Goodreads)

2.5 stars

TAYLOR JOHNSON’S LIGHTNING MAN- 2 stars

THAT DROWNING PLACE- 1star

TRANSIT- 2.5 stars

THE DARING LIFE OF PHILIPPA COOK THE ROGUE- 2.5 stars

BUMP- 3 stars

ALTA’S PLACE- 3 stars

THE EXPECTATION OF COOPER HILL- 2.5 stars

SURROGATE- 3 stars

MANYWHERE- 2 stars

This was a really fun and engaging collection of stories, which, although they covered different topics (ranging a full gamut from pregnancy to death, relationships and break-ups, and general modern malaise), still had a cohesive feel to them.

These stories are wonderfully, boldly and unapologetically queer, and at times feel like they're even queering the idea of what a short story can be. The writing feels confident, but also able to shape-shift in style between stories without feeling jarring.

I think these are well worth checking out, and taking time with, resisting the urge to gulp them down, and instead taking them perhaps one a day to savour them.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sadly, I could not get into these stories. The description of this book and Roxane Gay's review of them made me really excited to read this collection, but somehow they just did not work for me, and I decided to dnf at a 100 pages in. The first story was alright, but the ones after that were a bit too vague and distant for me to feel anything about them, really.

This is a book of surrealist short stories, and they are all unusual and very Gender. I poked through a couple other reviews, and many misgender the protagonists — from my perspective, as a trans person frequently around other trans people, both online and off, I think I correctly gendered the protagonists. But it’s not explicitly explained to the reader What Exactly is going on, which is something I really like but might not be your cup of tea. This book gets five stars from me — the first short story, The Lightning Man, is my favorite. I think I’d like to actually buy this to keep on my shelf.

Stories about people’s desires to feel a sense of belonging while on a journey of discovering themselves. The first two stories were too vague and melancholic and were my least favorite. They did get better but overall only a couple of them made an impression on me.

Stunning short story collection reflecting a wide array of queer experiences. I absolutely loved the vivid prose and the way each story pulled you in immediately, regardless of how little context you had to the beginning scene. It was brilliant and poetic and I absolutely adored it!

clever and sort of haunting short stories, about characters reckoning with identity and history and the very messy nature of it all. i found some of these stories lovely — Bump is a standout for me, beginning to end. a lovely collection.

Manywhere is a collection of short stories, through which queerness (and strangeness) runs like a thread, binding the disparate stories together. Place and setting – especially the American south – is also a persistent, unifying factor. The stories are domestic, intimate, and surreal in equal measure; beautifully and delightfully odd. I can't pretend I felt like I fully understood all of them on the first read-through, but I'd be delighted to revisit them again, to see if I can't expand that understanding.

Highly recommended for fans of queer fiction, magical realism, short fiction, and anyone looking to feel slightly unsettled after they finish reading a book. I will be following this author's future work with a great deal of interest.

Personal favorites: "Taylor Johnson's Lightning Man," "Bump," "Alta's Place," and "Surrogate."

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review!

Read this collection of nine stories about LGBTQ people one at a time. We all spend our lives looking for something- wealth, love, faith, ourselves- and Thomas has written about nine people doing exactly that. It's both thoughtful and thought provoking, Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Short story fans should grab this one up.

Thank you to FSG and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Available Jan 25th

Fantastical and thoroughly queer, Morgan Thomas's debut collection Manywhere is an incredible feat. I absolutely loved all the twists and turns in each story and how Thomas challenges our perception of history. Each story is wholly unexpected yet perfect like a bite of a tart peach pie on a warm summer day, leaving a lingering sense of contentment. There is an underlying sense of celebration, of bringing to life those shadows we'd half see on the walls and giving them the same love and affection as anyone else. Just a thoroughly enjoyable book!

Really solid debut collection. Lots of interesting thematic explorations of queerness/gender identity, history, and pregnancy/motherhood. The first two stories were the weakest (and quite confusing) of the collection for me, but I'm glad I continued on as the stories got better and better. Favorites were: "The Daring Life of Philippa Cook The Rogue" (fascinating story about trans identity in colonial-era America), "Bump," and "Manywhere," but as I said I enjoyed most of the stories after the first two. Thanks to MCD (FSG) for providing me with a free early copy! Manywhere comes out January 25!

“There were no demands at all upon my person or my time. No restrictions. Nothing to wait for, nothing to dread, nothing to force me to justify my life or to change it.” (from “Alta’s Place”)

This collection contains some of the best stories I’ve ever read, but also some misses (for me).

Thomas was able to create stories that feel huge in scope, ideas that could easily be turned into novels, without compromising on emotional potency, or precision. They managed to develop captivating characters and intricate settings in stories that are relatively short. This, combined with the writing style, makes them stories that require your full attention—and a little bit of patience. Oftentimes I wouldn’t really understand what was going on until I was a few pages into the story, especially for the first few stories or the ones that had more of a “historic” aspect to them.

My favorites were “Bump”, “Alta’s Place”, “Surrogate” and “Manywhere”.

MANYWHERE is an inventive and unique collection of nine short stories focusing primarily in the Southern US and featuring primarily genderqueer and queer experiences. A group is relocated due to flooding and FEMA offers them land in an area where a leper colony resides. Midwives in Alabama are pushed out of the profession by the emphasis on doctors. Someone learns about the history of an individual who lived as both a woman and a man in colonial times. The stories that I think about the most are MANYWHERE where a trans man's father comes to live with him. They used to hike together, and his father walks miles around the house day after day as his cognitive abilities wane, and the narrator tries to find him a surrogate daughter. Also BUMP, where a trans woman has a strong desire to be pregnant and purchases a strap on pregnancy belly and coworkers not surprisingly assume she is pregnant.

This collection is a diverse set of stories featuring characters not often highlighted and I truly enjoyed them, and would recommend others read these stories and expand their literary range.

Thank you to Farrar, Straus and Giroux via NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for honest review.

What a collection! The stories are sharply written, and often surprising, if somewhat unusual. The very first story has to be the strongest of the bunch. Many are concerned with queerness / transness, and many seem quietly attuned to this time. Not that the collection is experimental, but there was something very modern or contemporary to its leanings, and form.

Thank you FSG for the e-galley. I look forward to what Thomas does next.