Staring Contest: Essays About Eyes
“Weaving together such disparate subjects as Bette Davis’s career, the daily challenges of eye contact, and his own decade-long saga of periodic eye injections, Amberson digs deeply into the physical and existential consequences of living with such uncertainty. Staring Contest is wise, generous, and—given the subject matter—surprisingly funny.”
224 pages, trade paperback. ISBN #9781960200006.
Released on Perfect Day Publishing, May, 2023.
A Powell's Books and aWillamette Week 2023 year-end pick.
Print edition / eBook / Audiobook (also streaming on Kobo)
(Go here for advanced praise, press, playlists, radio appearances, and expanded bibliography.)
Two Plum Press chapbooks
I have three short books on the Portland publisher Two Plum. These include:
Writing Exercises (And Various Approaches to Life on Earth)
A collection of writing prompts for all levels of writers and writing interest. Writing Exercises (And Various Approaches to Life on Earth) is an accessible pocket book of 40 exercises to help you put words to the page. 98 pages, letter-pressed covers. ISBN #9781736046937. October, 2022.
Collecting short stories, personal essays, and prose poetry published over the past dozen years, Slow Motion Heroics is a mixtape of material intended to read a little differently than other collections. Stories of casual outsiders, daydreams, unplanned futures, and trains. 108 pages, letter-pressed covers. ISBN #9781736046913. November, 2021.
A sideways glance at the mundane myths that make up our lives. Or: three personal essays about collecting, cars, and dads (that are also about gender, masculinity, and strength). 66 pages, letter-pressed covers. ISBN #9781732159129. December, 2018.
