Under the Moon in Illinois

A riveting collection of contemporary ghost stories, with interconnected plots that lead to a dramatic ending... Welcome to the fictional town of Middling, Illinois, where ghosts conspire to redeem a troubled community. Combining social satire with humor and tragedy, these interconnected stories explore the challenges we face in an anxious time. We follow a cast of midwestern characters, dead and alive: a brave woman journalist, an earnest criminal, a corrupt pastor, awkward teen-agers, doomed newlyweds, a phantom hitchhiker, and time-traveling professors. At times dark and chilling, these tales are inherently hopeful. Winner of the Chris O'Malley Prize in Fiction, the Wild Women Award from Tulip Tree, and two-time finalist for the Tobias Wolff Award. Stories from this collection have been published or recognized by the Madison Review, Narrative Magazine, the TulipTree Review, the Bellingham Review, and the Whitefish Review. PRAISE FOR UNDER THE MOON IN ILLINOIS... "These concentrated gems of fiction take you to a landscape that might feel, at first, like small-town America—cornfields and chickens, sanctimonious pastors and protective mothers, high school kids and dating hijinks. It feels normal—but preternaturally normal, because this is Kipling Knox country, aka Middling, IL, and the crust is thin. Anywhere you step, you might break through into a deeper reality that can be frightening. But these are not horror stories. What haunts you in Middling is the emotional intensity that arises from loss and longing, from the knowledge that nothing lasts and nothing goes away." - author and lecturer Tamim Ansary "These interconnected stories, tied to a specific locale, fit in the tradition established by Poe, Hawthorne, and Washington Irving. Not just a compelling collection of ghost stories, this book challenges the reader to understand an original take on the afterlife. The ghost world of Middling has an important ethical dimension, with rules and consequences. This spirit world visibly manifests the history of loss, in America, stretching back through ruined farms and all the animal species—mastodons, passenger pigeons—we have driven to extinction. The small picture—of Middling—is also the large picture." - author, critic, and editor Elaine Palencia "This collection of stories twisted my imagination in unexpected ways, creating lasting impressions of a vivid world. Kipling paints a canvas of characters you might recognize from next door. But beware: these are not ordinary people. The characters of this world look into their souls and beg the reader to ask why we are here and what our purpose should be. I love a good ghost story, and these tales did not disappoint!" - Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto