SLEEP ALONE returns!

Hi, everyone! Hope you’ve been doing as okay as can be in these times. I’ve got news to share, so here’s a quick newsletter update (#2 of JAW Unhinged).

I’ve been very lucky to place my sex, drugs & rock&roll queer succubi novella SLEEP ALONE in not one but two excellent homes. First, with Off Limits Press, which gave my succubi a place to lay their heads and behave badly all the way to Bram Stoker Award and Shirley Jackson Award nominations. Then, when Off Limits closed, Shortwave Publishing offered a new home with a new cover that I’m so excited to share with you today:

Alan Lastufka, multi-talented owner of Shortwave Publishing, came up with this idea before we even discussed cover details. First thing I said when I saw it? GREEN ROOM! I love this punk rock show poster style (crumpled, creased, torn, and loved) inspired by one of my favorite movies. The details in this are excellent: that little splatter of blood under the boot, the club stamps on the back… I’m very aware of how rare it is to get two book covers that you actually love. I’m forever grateful to Evangeline Gallagher for the first, and now I get to heap some gratitude on Alan and Shortwave for this one.

This new edition of SLEEP ALONE includes a bonus story, “With Animals”, which originally appeared in What One Wouldn’t Do, edited by Scott J. Moses. It releases on March 17, 2026… just one day short of being exactly three years after the original Off Limits Press release. How cool is that?

Preorders are now available at the Shortwave shop. While you’re there, check out their new and upcoming releases. Lots of good stuff to topple your TBR pile.

And with Simon & Schuster now handling distribution for Shortwave, SLEEP ALONE will be available to all bookstores, from the indies to the big chains.

I want to thank all of you who read and supported SLEEP ALONE in its first life with Off Limits Press. It wouldn’t have a second life without you. And if you haven’t read my story of merch girl Ronnie and her band of succubi yet, here’s the back cover copy to pique your interest:

For the past six years, Ronnie has worked selling merch for a perpetually touring band. Late nights, sweaty clubs, dingy motel rooms, endless roads—as rough as it’s been, there is no other way of life for this band of hungry succubi leaving bodies in their wake.

Until she meets the enigmatic Helene.

Helene is just as restless, just as lonely, and just as full of secrets. With Helene in tow, Ronnie and the band make their way across the Pacific Northwest, trying to outrun not only their mistakes, but the mysterious disease stalking the band, a disease that devours succubi from the inside out.

The hunger is as endless as the road, but maybe Ronnie doesn’t always want to sleep alone.

I really believe in this story and am so grateful I got a chance to tell it. I hope you’ll check it out, whether you grab a copy online, at your favorite bookstore, or at your local library. If your library gets a copy, please tag me on socials (Bluesky and Instagram @JAWMcCarthy)—I get a lot of joy out of seeing my books in the wild.

And now to try something new…

Current read: The Day of the Door by Laurel Hightower

TV obsessions: Pluribus, The Chair Company, The Lowdown

Last movie watched: A Streetcar Named Desire

Recent book acquisitions: The Extra by Annie Neugebauer, A Game in Yellow by Hailey Piper, Issues with Authority by Nadia Bulkin, The Veldt Institute by Samuel M. Moss, Cyanide Constellations by Sara Tantlinger

New book I want: The Cellar Below the Cellar by Ivy Grimes

Bonus content: My story “Consider This an Opportunity” was reprinted in the German anthology Your Body the Ship: the Best International Science Fiction Stories. This is my first translation/non-English publication!

I’ll be sending a year-end wrap up soon. Until then, thanks for reading this newsletter, reading my work, and your support.

See you on Bluesky? Find me there and on Instagram @jawmccarthy