A Thousand Howls in Silver Air
Set in the 1990s, A Thousand Howls in Silver Air meanders across Florida, the swamp-green state that dips like a hook into two bodies of salt, and the Mid-West, a paper-gray place like a sigh, a flock of geese above a river. The story begins in an undergraduate literature class, when Poetry meets Love, an eccentric woman who will change her life forever. Love reveals her soul through her writing, quickly becoming Poetry’s idol, but the intensity of their relationship leads to destructive outcomes. Poetry must rely on her commitment to her art to steer her through the loss.
A Thousand Howls in Silver Air is a character-driven, hybrid novella written in vignettes and poems. The main characters follow the echoes of literature, music, art, nature and dreams on journeys of self-discovery, and the plot explores relatable themes of female friendship, home, love, identity and sexuality.
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Reviews from Beta Readers
"One important thing is that A Thousand Howls in Silver Air is a love story. There’s also the life of an artist, female friendship, coming of age, being on the road, and a host of other themes, but first and foremost it is a messy, realistic, deep love story."
- Ralph Williams
"I love the movement in the chapter, "White Rocket, Silver Meteor." The images of place build and swell like Florida clouds as Love and Poetry make their pilgrimages. Each time I put this chapter down, I start dreaming up my next road trip, determined to bring some of Michelle's poetic eye along with me this time."
- Rebecca Wise
"In A Thousand Howls in Silver Air the prose and poetry sit together like a strong dialogue, a conversation and echo, a speech and a song. This rhythmic, tuneful, multilayered and beautifully textured book resonated with me on a personal level. A Thousand Howls in Silver Air is good company, wise, a piece of art, intricate and well-architected."
- Jen O’Hagan
"I could wrap myself up in these words and go to sleep. A Thousand Howls in Silver Air reminds me when I first learned to whistle. Makes me want a drink. I can taste it. I feel the heat and how its heaviness slows everything down. I love how strong the women are in this story. There is excellent music, imagery and foreshadowing within the poems. A Thousand Howls in Silver Air is evocative. It feels like home when I read it."
- Christine Finke
"The shifts between prose and poetry in A Thousand Howls in Silver Air feel natural, as if we as readers were joining the author not only in reflecting on her experiences but also in understanding how these individual memories are connected in her mind. There are several points in the book, including the last chapter, that reminded me of a polyphonic melody: multiple streams of dialogue or recorded thought processes that sounded simultaneously but never competitively, all seeming to work toward the author’s goal of finding a kind of harmonic balance in these past experiences."
- Allen Daniel
"A Thousand Howls in Silver Air is intimate, raw, funny and sad. It is an Americana wanderlust story about a relationship between a brave, sensual poet and a vulnerable, impulsive writer. This brilliant, beautiful book made me cry until I crumbled, and I was grateful for the parts that put me back together."
- Loretta Olek
"A Thousand Howls in Silver Air is a book of healing and time travel. I felt this all the way through, the traveling toward and the letting go, the perfect timing of the chapters, the way they showed up and carried through, like a perfectly tracked mixed tape. This complex novella is filled with pathways, passageways, prismatic layers, vulnerability, funny moments, clarity, compassion, and honesty. A Thousand Howls in Silver Air is for anyone connected to past, present and future simultaneously."
- Kate Kyle