Winner of the Spokane Prize for Short Fiction In this new, expanded edition of her prize-winning collection, Midge Raymond stretches the boundaries of place as she explores the indelible imprint of home upon the self and the ways in which new frontiers both defy and confirm who we are. The characters who inhabit these stories travel for business or for pleasure, sometimes out of duty and sometimes in search of freedom, and each encounters the unexpected. From a biologist navigating the stark, icy moonscape of Antarctica to a businesswoman seeking refuge in the lonely islands of the South Pacific, the characters in these stories abandon their native landscapes--only to find that, once separated from the ordinary, they must confront new interpretations of who they really are, and who they're meant to be. "Raymond's prose often lights up the poetry-circuits of the brain, less because of lyrical language and more due to things that work as both literal and symbolic nouns: stolen rings, voice-mail messages gone astray; heavy-footed humans in the middle of fragile habitats...Parts of these polished stories, if read aloud, would sound like a smart patient describing a dream to a psychoanalyst." -- The Seattle Times "All of her stories are heartbreakingly honest ... I wouldn't be surprised if she started getting compared to Alice Munro or Jhumpa Lahiri." -- Seattle Books Examiner " Raymond's prose often lights up the poetry-circuits of the brai n...Parts of these polished stories, if read aloud, would sound like a smart patient describing a dream to a psychoanalyst." -- The Seattle Times " Raymond has quiet, unrelenting control over the writing; each story is compelling and thrives because each detail and line ofdialogue reveals just a little more about the characters and theevocative settings." -- The Rumpus " Raymond skillfully uses the resources of place, culture, and language to reveal the complications of the heart and the complexities of human characterand circumstance ." -- Pleiades " All of her stories are heartbreakingly hones t ... I wouldn't be surprised if she started getting compared to Alice Munro or Jhumpa Lahiri." -- Seattle Books Examiner "In her impressive debut collection , Forgetting English , Midge Raymond sets her stories in a variety of locations outside thecontinental United States...Alongside personal, human histories, Raymond incorporates larger traditions. Marriage rites. Fertility symbols. Themeaning of jade. The natural history of the penguin." -- Fiction Writers Review " Forgetting English is a wonderfully written, powerful compilation of short stories." -- Seattlest " Raymond's style of writing is engaging, her locations exotic ...and what her stories express about travel and exploration is honest and forthright." -- The Short Review " Midge Raymond's stories are a revelation and a delight, a journey from the frozen desert at the bottom of the world to the lush rainforest of Hawai'i. Prepare yourself to think in Chinese, to startover, to reveal your worst crime and discover you are a stranger toyourself, born again into a world where all things become wondrous andnew, terrifying and possible." -- Melanie Rae Thon, author of First, Body and The Voice of the River " Forgetting English is an exquisite thematic collection of short stories...Raymond'smasterful prose transports the reader to various locales includingAntarctica, Japan, and Tonga, to name a few." -- Metroreader "Midge Raymond will soon become one of your favorite authors." -- Luxury Reading Midge Raymond is the author of the novel My Last Continent and the award-winning short-story collection Forgetting English . Her writing has appeared in TriQuarterly, American Literary Review, Bellevue Literary Review , the Los Angeles Times magazine, the Chicago Tribune, Poets & Writers , and many other publications. Midge worked in publishing in New York before moving to Boston, where she taught communication writing at Boston University for six years. She has taught creative writing at Boston's Grub Street Writers, Seattle's Richard Hugo House, and San Diego Writers, Ink. She has also published two books for writers, Everyday Writing and Everyday Book Marketing . Visit MidgeRaymond.com.