Girl Detectives
by Emily Capettini
Girl Detectives is a collection of micro fictions featuring Daphne and Velma after, their lives moving on from what they once knew. It’s a coming of age tale of two people, growing out of their expected identities, that which was decided for them, and into themselves, learning to step past trap doors, say no to the hauntings they do not want to investigate. These pieces lean into identity, queerness, and discovery, and then leave you wanting more. (Porkbelly Press, 2022)
Additional Info
EXCERPT
“Velma Goes Away to a Small College Where No One Knows Her Name”
She wears her other turtlenecks. Takes off her glasses herself, arms folded in. Enrolls in a self-defense class, learns to fall. Cuts her hair short, pierces her nose. Wears contacts. Peels away her old disguise.
Worries over if she said the right thing to the woman in her history class, not the police. Thinks about what would happen if her scrapbook were full of newspaper clippings about raising money for the local library, organizing Shakespeare in the Park; not another haunted mill discovered to be a long con in the name of insurance money.
Wishes she had snuck out to meet people in the backs of cars headed somewhere unhaunted, unmarked. Reminds herself to think only clothes, not disguise, not mask.
Excuses herself when people begin a story with you know what I heard. Lets her roommate play music as loudly as she wants so Velma can forget what her heartbeat sounds like in atticked silence, forget how long she can hold her breath.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Emily Capettini (she/they) is a queer fiction writer from the Midwest who loves a good ghost story. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, such as Inverse, Thimble Literary Magazine, and Okay Donkey Magazine, among many others, and her novella Thistle was published by Omnidawn in 2013. They are Assistant Editor at Sundress Publications and Assistant Professor of English at Indiana State University, where they teach literature and creative writing. Find out more about her at emilycapettini.com.
ABOUT THE COVER
The cover is inkjet printed on premium matte paper, trimmed & bound by hand. Garamond & Avenir are our typefaces of choice for the guts of this book. The cover is set using Veneer Two typeface from foundry Yellow Design Studio. Design by Nicci Mechler.
NOTES
Work in this chapbook previously appeared in Dream Pop Journal, Lammergeier, Middle House Review, Passages North, Permafrost Magazine, Up North Lit, and The Spectacle.
BOOKS FROM OTHER PRESSES
Thistle, Omnidawn. 2015. Winner of 2013 Fabulist Fiction Chapbook Contest.