Wings & Other Things is a book of migrations. Its characters flutter and flap, take off and land, then take off again as they seek the places they belong. These are characters caught in transition: a widow searching for a past self on an "Impossible Blue" coast, lovers explaining to the police and themselves why they're hiding in a Nebraska cornfield, a teacher on a flight from Chengdu struggling to be understood, a stranded artist accepting a ride from a stranger on a highway haunted by the ghost of a woman who never made it home. Each story is a transformation as Craig turns railroad tracks into an "infinite number line" and a lightning bolt into a "tentacle of the unseen." A plastic fork becomes a parable of fragility, and a "scrap moon" is an image of what is lost and what yet remains. Even a single word captures longing, instinct, regret, and stubborn hope: "Fly, fly, fly." Familiar yet never predictable, these characters exist in liminal spaces-on an airplane, in an abusive marriage, on the side of a highway-always on the precipice of change. Craig expertly mines the discomfort of seemingly ordinary circumstances, the tension between what people want and what they have. She knows how easy it is for a person to remain stuck until she's "finally forced to open the door like she wants whatever's coming." I will remember Elise, Bette, Anya, and the other women here for a long time. -Geeta Kothari, author of I Brake for Moose and Other Stories These stories are full of hard-won wisdom, sharp insights, and generous compassion. Craig's characters suffer from and bear up under the ordinary though devastating failures and disappointments, but through force of will, wit, and wonder they persevere and often prevail. While Craig's stories veer into the necessary dark territory of the heart, they never lose sight of the light in the distance. -Kerry Neville, author of Remember to Forget Me Craig's characters measure their lives in the migration of whales; in the slow, luminous motion of slugs; in thunderstorms, snowstorms, and dry, crackling prairies. It's no wonder then that when longing and grief buckle them, derailing their lives onto courses not planned, they are not surprised so much as braced for it. -Michelle Ross, author of They Kept Running , Katherine Anne Porter Prize winner Chauna Craig examines the lives of women in courtship, marriage, adultery, and on their own; the decisions that brought them there; and the lives they never lived as a result. . . . These women, in perfectly drawn, revelatory moments, show us what we settle for and how we are haunted by what could've been. These stories disquiet and rivet, demanding our attention and inviting our reflection on how one reconciles the desire for escape with the need to stay put. Subtle and artful in its choreography of miscommunications and conflicting desires, this is an intelligent and absorbing collection. -Donna Miscolta, author of Living Color: Angie Rubio Stories Chauna Craig has published her stories and essays in numerous anthologies and literary journals, including Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, Fourth Genre, Sou'wester and Flash Fiction America (forthcoming 2023). She's been awarded fellowships and scholarships to Vermont Studio Center, Hedgebrook, and Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. A Montana native, she currently lives in western Pennsylvania. The Widow's Guide to Edible Mushrooms was her debut story collection, and Wings & Other Things is her second collection, both with Press 53.