McCarty's 'Anatomies' Earns Praise from 'Esquire,' Others

SALISBURY, MD---“The author seems like the type of person who would laugh at a funeral.”

That’s Esquire’s assessment of Dr. Susan McCarty, assistant professor of English at Salisbury University, in its review of her inaugural short story collection, Anatomies. {The magazine assured its readers it was a compliment.)

Scheduled for release by Aforementioned Productions this month, the book is one of just nine to make the magazine’s Summer Reading List, “guaranteed to sweep you away — and make you forget you’ve been roasting under the sun.”

McCarty’s collection of fiction tells stories about ordinary people — from an aging tutor, to New York transplants, to a married couple in the midst of a spat, to a teenager struggling with love during her parents’ divorce — whose lives sometimes take unexpected turns.

Esquire noted that McCarty “reveals what’s funny is funny, what’s sad is sad, and personal moments that pang are often both. … Her snark lingers somewhere between Alice Munro and Amy Schumer — which, again, is also a compliment.”

The book also has received high praise from Kirkus, which called it “a promising debut … [with] a surprising diversity of tone.” The publication hailed McCarty as “a gifted purveyor of American short fiction.”

McCarty joined SU’s English Department in 2013. Holding a Ph.D. from the University of Utah and M.F.A. from Vermont College, she has published in journals and magazines including Utne Reader, Indiana Review, Willow Springs and Conjunctions, among others.

For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU website at www.salisbury.edu.