McSWEENEY’S NEW RELEASE AND QUARTERLY COMBO SUBSCRIPTION

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“There are few examples in publishing that equal the care and inventiveness McSweeney’s offers their readers—the industry at large should take note.”
—Bookends and Beginnings, Evanston, IL

Life is too short to worry about not having enough reading material. That’s why we’ve decided to combine two of our most popular long-standing subscriptions into one super-sized combo, bringing you no fewer than ten McSweeney’s publications—and one special tote—straight to your mailbox. You’ll get four issues of our ever-changing, always boundary-pushing, National Magazine Award-winning literary journal McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, PLUS the next six titles from our books division, sent prior to or upon publication and bundled with special letters of introduction from the authors themselves. On their own, these books and quarterlies can retail anywhere from $16 to $30, so this is truly a deal worth writing home about. And, like the cheesiest of infomercials, that’s not all! Combo subscribers will also be sent a beautiful green McSweeney’s tote immediately upon purchase.

Take a look at what you’ll have coming your way:

McSweeney’s 71: The Monstrous and the Terrible
Our first-ever issue-length foray into horror, and featuring one of our biggest lineups in some time, our seventy-first issue is one for the ages. Guest edited by Brian Evenson, McSweeney’s 71: The Monstrous and the Terrible is a hair-raising collection of fiction that will challenge the notion of what horror has been, and suggest what twenty-first-century horror is and can be. And it’s all packaged in a mind-bending, nesting-doll-like series of interlocking slipcases that must be seen to be believed.

There’s Stephen Graham Jones’s eerie take on the alien abduction story, Mariana Enríquez’s haunting tale of childhood hijinks gone awry, and Jeffrey Ford on a writer who loses control of his characters. Nick Antosca (cocreator of the award-winning TV series The Act) spins out a novelette about the hidden horrors of wine country. There’s Kristine Ong Muslim exploring environmental horror in the Philippines; a sharp-edged folk tale by Gabino Iglesias, and Diné writer Natanya Ann Pulley reimagining sci-fi horror from an Indigenous perspective. Hungarian writer Attila Veres proffers a dark take on the not-so-hidden sociopathy of multilevel marketing. And Erika T. Wurth explores the dark gaps leading to other worlds. If that weren’t enough: an excerpt from a new novel by Brandon Hobson; a chilling allegorical horror story by Senaa Ahmad; a Lovecraftian bildungsroman by Lincoln Michel; unsettling dream cities from Nick Mamatas; M. T. Anderson’s exceptionally weird take on babysitting; and, improbably, much more.

Pay As You Go by Eskor David Johnson
Longlisted for the Center for Fiction 2023 First Novel Prize

New to town and delusionally confident, Slide imagined himself living in a glossy building with doormen and sweeping views of the skyline. Instead he’s landed in a creaking, stuffy apartment with two roommates: a loping giant who hardly leaves his room, and a weight-obsessed neurotic who keeps no fewer than forty-seven lamps throughout the house, blazing at all hours.

Unwilling to accept this fate, Slide—a barber with an opaque past—embarks on a quest for the perfect apartment, pinballing through the sprawling, madcap city of Polis and its endless procession of neighborhoods. As he bounces from foldout couch to disaster-relief tent, falling in with some tough types, Slide begins to realize that he’s going to have to scratch and claw just to claim a place for himself in this world—let alone a place with in-unit laundry.

An exuberant, fantastical odyssey, Pay As You Go wonders if what we’re searching for is ever really out there. Its pages—surreal, biting, and teeming with life—announce the startling talents of Eskor David Johnson, who knows that all any of us really want is a place to rest our head.

The Honor of Your Presence by Dave Eggers

In this long short story, or short novella, Dave Eggers gives us an unforgettable duo, Helen and Peter Mahoney, a homebody niece and her adventurous, almost-British uncle. Helen designs invitations to parties and galas to which she is not welcome, and is quite comfortable with that. One day, though, Peter wonders, “Why not print an extra invite and I’ll be your plus one?” What starts out as an innocuous lark becomes much more—a very funny and lyrical referendum on why humans congregate and celebrate.

McSweeney’s Issue 72
Finish out 2023 in style with a jam-packed metaphorical evening of cultural nourishment courtesy of McSweeney’s 72. Inside this three mini-book volume (bedecked with art by printmaker David Ryan), you’ll find a new play, The Headliners, by Jeffrey Neuman (produced here in an extended playbill of black and white photos from the Denver world-premiere production along with the play’s full text); and experience the hardships and thrills of life on the road as comedian and musician Tim Heidecker guides you through his intimate diary and documentary photos of his The Two Tims tour. With your whistle appropriately wetted, settle in for a full festival’s worth of literary stars including Ed Park’s latest tale of generational differences in family and love; Selena Gambrell Anderson on the intentional wrecking of a rich man’s ill-used ship; Jim Shepard’s new narrative perspective of Dr. Jekyll and his Mr. Hyde; Caleb Crain’s painfully accurate take on the time-honored tradition of hooking up at a writing conference; and Lauren Spohrer on the frightening specter of ghost planes and ghost citations, misattributions and appropriations.

Find all this plus letters considering product demand, the future as an airport terminal, teleportation of orgies to Iowa City, and lingering baby teeth from Dan Poppick, Mina Tavakoli, Vi Khi Nao, and Justin Carder; an excerpt from Eskor David Johnson’s Pay As You Go; Brian Robert Moore’s new translation of Lalla Romano; new work from Erin Somers, Adrian Van Young, Sahar Delijani, and Kevin Moffett; and the winner and runner-up of our inaugural Stephen Dixon Prize: Kristina Ten and Maz Do. Get ready to enrich your soul and live it up in the most introverted way possible, with this concentrated blast of stunning literary periodical content.

And then?
Keep an eye out in 2023 for three more thrilling and innovative collections of the kind of cutting-edge literary content readers of McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern have come to expect for over two decades. Plus, unforgettable works of fiction and nonfiction from McSweeney’s Publishing.

Praise for McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern

“A key barometer of the literary climate.”
—The New York Times

“The first bona fide literary movement in decades.”
—Slate

“Ever shape-shifting and ambitious, McSweeney’s has redefined what a literary institution can be. Their commitment to publishing strong, strange voices and stories from the periphery has always been an inspiration and I’m always excited to see what they’ll do next.”
—Catherine Lacey, McSweeney’s contributor and author of The Answers

“McSweeney’s is so much more than a magazine; it’s a vital part of our culture.”
—Geoff Dyer, McSweeney’s contributor and author of Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi and Otherwise Known as the Human Condition

“Some magazines are comfort reads. We turn to them because we can almost predict, issue to issue, what and even who will appear in them. But others, like McSweeney’s, are challenge reads. They’re feverishly inventive, discomfortingly surprising, and therefore among the best reminders that we are actually alive. I love shouting at McSweeney’s, laughing with it, and rolling my eyes at myself while the magazine reads me like a deceptively perceptive carnival psychic.”
—John D’Agata, author of Halls of Fame and About a Mountain

“I’m incredibly grateful for the existence of McSweeney’s. Its embrace of world literature is completely unique, lucid, knowing, and indispensable.”
—Francisco Goldman, McSweeney’s contributor and acclaimed author of The Interior Circuit: A Mexico City Chronicle and The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop?



IMPORTANT LOGISTICAL INFORMATION: All subscriptions placed before December 8, 2023 will begin with McSweeney’s 71: The Monstrous and the Terrible, and both Pay As You Go and The Honor of Your Presence. All subscriptions to McSweeney’s Quarterly automatically renew after four issues, at 15% off the price of a regular sub (currently $80.75), while the McSweeney’s New Release Subscription renews after six issues at a price of $95. In the event of any future rate changes, we will notify you via email. If you’d like to cancel either subscription at any time prior to its auto-renewal, you can log in to your account and adjust your subscription settings. Or send an email to custservice@mcsweeneys.net with the subject lines “End Quarterly Renew,” “End New Release Renew,” or “End Combo Renew” depending on your desires. Refunds will be accepted only up until the first issue of your renewal is shipped. If you’d like to give the Quarterly Concern as a one-time gift, purchase a gift subscription here. Any subscription purchased with the “gift” option marked at checkout will not be enrolled in autorenew.

International shipping costs for the full ten-book combo subscription: $70