Vacancy: Room 19
In the fall of 2022, writer and cultural critic Ezra Calloway (The Thinnest Curtain; The Dogs Keep Singing) checked into Room 19 of the derelict Zephyr Motel on the outskirts of Barstow, California—a room whispered about in local circles for its ghost stories and strange midnight humming.
Calloway’s idea: spend seven nights inside the infamous room, document the hallucinations, record the sleeptalk, and write a confessional travelogue without ever stepping outside.
Vacancy: Room 19 is equal parts haunted memoir, psychological experiment, and ode to late-night paranoia. Richly textured, deeply unnerving, and weirdly funny, it’s a voyeuristic look into one artist’s unraveling inside four grimy walls.
“Creepy, dazzling, unforgettable. Like Bukowski lost in a David Lynch motel.”
—Vivian Gold, author of Everything You Can’t Name
Available now as a Kindle Single.
Commentariat
Edited by Layla Irons and J.J. Prescott, Commentariat is a genre-defying work of found literature, stitched together from the most visceral, hilarious, and unfiltered comments ever posted to the culture hub Common Sins Daily. From rage-posts and philosophical rants to softcore confessions and coldhearted takedowns, Commentariat is the internet unmasked.
“Wildly raw and disturbingly profound… it’s as if a Greek chorus went on a Twitter bender.”
—Mitchell Tane, The Post-Post
Available now in paperback and e-book editions.
The Ugly Anthology
Daily Flame Best Books 2024
Finalist, Smithwick Prize for Independent Voices
What does it mean to be ugly—truly ugly? In The Ugly Anthology: Essays, Poems & Objects, a roster of international writers, visual artists, and misfit philosophers dissect the grotesque, the awkward, the discarded, and the unwanted. Contributors include Eloise Kline, Dakota Park, Shelby Andrade, Miles Fox, and more.
“Not just a book, but a mirror you won’t want to look away from.”
—Margot Petty, author of Ugly Girls Win
Available now in trade paperback and e-book editions.
My Houseplants Are Trying to Kill Me
In her darkly comic debut, My Houseplants Are Trying to Kill Me, essayist Vera Lanning opens her apartment, and her neuroses, to the world. From passive-aggressive succulents to dreams of taxidermied boyfriends, Lanning explores the slippery terrain between modern domesticity and mental unraveling.
“A neurotic, hilarious tour-de-force of inner life gone feral.”
—Alonso Driggs, The Quiet Loud
Available now in trade paperback and e-book editions.
Draw Me A Lie
Ricky Swale has worked as a storyboard artist, donut delivery driver, and once drew a caricature of a cat that was mistaken for a local politician. In Draw Me A Lie, his first printed cartoon collection, Swale renders the absurdities of modern life with minimalist lines and maximum dread.
“If existential dread had a punchline, it would look like this.”
—Elle Vargas, The Ink Parade
Available now in trade paperback.
Confessia
In this blistering essay collection, Anders Rothschild maps his life from anarchist dishwasher to indie film extra to brooding expat living in a Croatian watchtower. Originally published on the cult website Restless Ground, the pieces in Confessia balance raw confessional energy with dreamlike precision.
“A beautiful wreck of a book. Sharp as regret, soft as a bruise.”
—Whitney Nell, Dagger and Petal Review
Available now in trade paperback and e-book editions.TNB Bookstore is a curated selection of titles from the fringe of literary culture. We celebrate the strange, the unfiltered, and the voices still whispering after the party ends.
