Becoming Real

According to editor Laraine Herring, “ Speculative memoir is an umbrella genre in which the questions of the memoirist’ s book are addressed through speculative elements, which may include ghosts, metaphors, what-ifs, imaginative scenarios, and fantasies. It is memoir focused more on the possibilities of the internal world than the facts of the external world.” Speculative has long been accepted in the domain of fiction, but speculative is not in conflict with a lived experience or the story of a life. Speculative essays empower us to claim all of ourselves and our moments— not just the ones the patriarchy or dominant culture wants to reinforce. This powerful collection of seventeen women’ s essays grapples with themes of loss, individuation, abuse, authenticity, and identity through speculative elements. Perhaps they will also help you remember parts of your own heart and give you new language to express your singular, magical lives.

Laraine Herring’ s most recent book is A Constellation of Ghosts: A Speculative Memoir with Ravens. She’ s also the author and illustrator of The Grief Forest: a book about what we don’ t talk about, and a trilogy of writing books from Shambhala Publications, She’ s a professor of psychology and creative writing, and a book coach living in northern Arizona.