Thirty-Nine transgressive short stories
that are raw, relatable, and fearlessly honest.
 
Welcome to this nostalgic museum of girlhood, where eleven self-loathing and self-destructive girls are on display. Watch as feelings of confusion, rebellion, and a desire to belong turn them into defiant women, unruly mothers, and unsavory wives. Roman leaves prison with a dangerous man; Kia attends a locker room sermon on period sex; Carly escorts her boyfriend’s ex to the abortion clinic, and you develop nudes at the local drugstore. Through sharp and visceral prose, Shannon Waite gives life to the women you know, have been, or will be in ways that break you but won’t let you look away.
 
Both a prequel and sequel to Waite’s interactive novel Raising Women, this expansion pack allows the novel’s girls to bravely tell their own gut-wrenching stories in unapologetically bold voices—and though it expands on the novel’s characters, this gritty, unsettling, and vulnerable short story collection can be read before, after, or isolated from the novel.
from the book - "Lena, 1992: Stolen Names"
We’re in the guest bathroom cutting our hair like we’re shedding something of ourselves. I’ve got a fistful of Andi’s in one hand and industrial shears in the other as we face the mirror. Some toothpaste spit fogs the reflection a little, but otherwise I can see us head-on. Like we’re clear. For the longest time, before this moment, it had mostly been me and her, but then she tells me in a fake-diamond type of way that she’s thinking about how nice it’d be if our parents got married, because then the loneliness would all be over. We’d be real sisters. A loose piece of her hair falls somewhere on my skin. I stand above her sitting on the toilet as she imagines this other world where Dad and I need someone, but she’s wrong. We don’t need anyone stealing our names. The back of Andi’s neck feels tender from how often she uses conditioner. I stroke it with my thumb as we stare at ourselves, looking at who we are. I ask her if she’s ready, but before she says anything, I slice her long hair in half. The cut’s not straight. Her mouth splits into a snarl that looks the same as the cut I just made, and I drop all of her wiry ends on the floor. Sometimes she forgets things are temporary, so she’s screaming, like some wild animal, that with hair like this now, she’ll always be alone and, I don’t know, maybe she’s right. Or maybe we all will.
Raising Women: An Interactive Novel



about the author
Shannon Waite writes stories about norms, characters who break norms, and society's wounds. They're always contemporary, often transgressive. Her debut novel, Raising Women, is an interactive novel in which readers make self-destructive decisions that explore the wild that is growing up girl.
 
Her short fiction has been published in Pank, Hobart, and elsewhere.  She has two bachelor’s degrees in English and Creative Writing from Oakland University and an MA in Teaching and Curriculum from Michigan State University. Shannon lives in Michigan with her husband, cat, and hamster.


girls are taxes.
women are city limits.

You are on the precipice of womanhood and have become obsessed with an ex-convict, Roman. She introduces you to the dangerous and honest side of life that no one else has been able to. As she unapologetically places you in scandalous situations, you begin making self-destructive decisions. Depending on which decisions you choose, you may taste Roman’s blood, get branded with a searing screwdriver, or date a married man – all while each choice challenges what it means to be a woman, real, or both.
 
In this interactive novel, readers have twenty-four possible pathways with four unique endings to explore the wild that is growing up girl.