Description:
Vivid stories of hard-partying Chicago trans women in the 2020s--right here, right now
AN ABA INDIE NEXT PICK FOR NOV 2026
"As refreshing as an ice-cold beer, and well worth savoring."
--Kirkus (starred review)
"Delicious, fabulous writing--devoured this in one sitting."
--Kristen Arnett, New York Times-bestselling author of Stop Me If You've Heard This One
Agnes can't deal with the coke and the whiskey. Joan's been getting a little success, it's not really working out for her. Sybil's still insane, I saw her last week at the bars, she was screaming at Sara. Maybe actually someone screamed at her when she tried to make fun of Clara for not shaving her eyebrows correctly. It was just before she got hit by that car. Jenny and Joan had to pick her up from Thorek Memorial. Freddie's still Freddie, but I heard her mom showed up at some point. Just on her doorstep. Orla and Kate finally got around to dating. They broke up though. Carolina? Well she got that job with the Sanitation department, and she hasn't really been around since.
In this crackling collection of stories, Sloane Murphy shows a beautiful and wrecked scene of young Chicago trans women. With the clairvoyance of Michelle Tea and the precision of Raymond Carver, Shut Up, I Love You, I'll Call You Tomorrow is a conduit of bleary electricity inside a stubborn, still-beating heart.
Review Quotes:
"[An] early 2020s time capsule."
--Chicago Sun-Times
"This captivating collection of character studies doubles as a portrait of community as a living, breathing thing. As refreshing as an ice-cold beer, and well worth savoring."
--Kirkus (starred review)
"[An] impressive debut ... The complex dynamics and conversational tone of the stories will keep readers invested in this true-to-life group of women ... Timely and deftly written, this collection is a winner."
--Library Journal (starred review)
"Magnetic, tender as hell, and cut with half-mad humor."
--Ez Pence, Seminary Co-op Bookstores (Chicago, IL)
"Bighearted ... the teeming cast and colorful character work lend this book its charm."
--Publishers Weekly
"Kinetic, funny, sexy, heartbreaking, frank, and illuminating."
--Booklist
"I sat down with a beer and devoured this in one sitting."
--Kristen Arnett, New York Times-bestselling author of Stop Me If You've Heard This One
"So real you can practically smell the cigarettes."
--Matt Burris, Magic City Books (Tulsa, OK)
"Immersive and intimate ... follow[s] the coolest and saddest trans party girls finding home and community with each other."
--Zak Caudill, City Lit Books (Chicago, IL)
"Heart, humor, and hard partying ... Murphy's collective feels like playing whisper-down-the-lane about an ensemble of the messiest people you've ever met, with gossip that never fails to seduce."
--Electric Literature
"A beautiful illustration of the complexity of friendship, love, and community; it portrays the sadness and the frustration of living but more importantly the light and hope that shine through with the help of friends."
--Lex Newman, Myopic Books (Chicago, IL)
"Like catching up on gossip about a friend of a friend ... laugh out loud funny."
--Ren Dean, Skunk Cabbage Books (Chicago, IL)
"Like a glorious, hazy lost weekend where plot is gleaned from snippets of overheard conversations and characters crystalize slowly through luminous encounters as you stumble, a little buzzed, from room to room, story to story."
--Shualee Cook, Women and Children First (Chicago, IL)
"What a beautiful ode to staying alive."
--Chloë Jackson, The Understudy Coffee and Books (Chicago, IL)
"I already miss every single one of these characters like they were friends of mine who just stepped out of the room."
--Ramona Flores, White Whale Bookstore (Pittsburgh, PA)
"This book should be read in an afternoon, and then again the next day."
--Charlie Jones, A Room of One's Own (Madison, WI)
"Like a breathless night out at a dive bar with your best friends, your lovers, your best friend's lovers, your ex-lover's best friends, your ex-lovers/ex-friends... I inhaled this book and its compact sprawl the way you get engrossed in drunken overlapping chatter."
--Natalie Marlin, Moon Palace Books (Minneapolis, MN)
"Angsty, propulsive, funny, fresh, Sloane's slim collection is the literary love child of Michelle Tea and Red Jordan Arobateau."
--Kris Kleindienst, Left Bank Books (St. Louis, MO)
"An electric collection that is all sharp elbows, quick wits, and beating hearts."
--Keith Mosman, Powell's Books (Portland, OR)
"If I go missing, don't worry--I'm just at a cabin in the woods working on a rack of light beer and re-reading Sloane Murphy."
--Callie Winter, Elliott Bay Books (Seattle, WA)
"Murphy's characters felt so real and were so relatable and cool I wanted to have a beer and a cig with them."
--Mag Mitts, Alienated Majesty Books (Austin, TX)
"Sloane Murphy shows why fun is fun, honesty hurts, and friendships are heartbreak."
--Alice Stoehr, author of Again, Harder
"Electric with honesty and yearning."
--Sawyer Lovett, author of Shampoo Unicorn
"I read the collection in one sitting and closed the book feeling the way one does on the way home from a really great party--full of gossip and flashes of poignancy, with the bittersweet nostalgia for a time that has only just passed and may never come again."
--E.R. Anderson, Charis Books (Decatur, GA)
"Tales of such, of people being messy and the messiness of people, are not always good. Sometimes they are monotonous and rote. Then there are excellent short story collections such as this one, and you are reminded that messiness can yet be a sort of art."
--Brad Johnson, East Bay Booksellers (Oakland, CA)
"Shut up and read this."
--Orion Enceladus, The Legendarium (Salt Lake City, UT)
"Smart and funny and brutal and complicated... a truly beautiful exploration of queer and trans life through the interconnected stories of trans women with big feelings, big dreams, and even bigger personalities."
--Kaitlyn Mahoney, Under the Umbrella Bookstore (Salt Lake City, UT)
"While there are plenty of books out there about messy trans and queer people, I'm hard pressed to find a collection of stories that delivers the mess in all of its complexity and humanity, colored by so many poignant moments of deep self-awareness."
--Jules Wernersbach, Hive Mind Books (Brooklyn, NY)