We’re thrilled to announce that on September 30, Publishing Genius will release Whiskey for the Holy Ghost, the newest work from Edward Mullany—a collection of very short stories paired with Mullany’s illustrations
We are so proud of how this 100-story collection is an inspired example of the way small press fiction can push the boundaries of form. In Whiskey for the Holy Ghost, narrative isn’t just told—it’s drawn, sketched, and distilled until only the truthy kernel remains. These one-sentence (sometimes one-breath) stories share space with line drawings that expand the mystery, inviting you to linger in the in-between.
For readers of innovative art books, Mullany’s style offers something singular: prose as spare and deliberate as Lydia Davis, humor as wry and humane as Donald Barthelme, and a visual sensibility that recalls the intimacy of a sketch passed across the table to a friend.
Praise for Whiskey for the Holy Ghost
“I can’t help but describe this work as ministering… There’s something so generous in how each page begins anew, opening and closing with a quixotic faith in the next logical step.”
—Jacob White, author of Being Dead in South Carolina
“Whimsical and deeply soulful… Written in a style that’s been burnished to sound like pure human thinking… the rare art that shows us our strangeness, and makes the world new.”
—Craig Beaven, author of In Arcadia and Natural History
“Like Cubist pictures… the collection becomes living fiction, as close to a truly organic text as we are likely to see.”
—W. Lawrence Hogue, Moores Professor of English, Emeritus, University of Houston
“Edward Mullany pulls the structure of the narrative out of limitations that had never occurred to me… Immensely readable in any location or mood.”
—Maggie Umber, author of Chrysanthemum Under the Waves
“An extraordinary book. Poignant, charming and eerily disturbing—sometimes all at the same time… A unique and haunting treasure.”
—Janice Shapiro, author of Honoria: A Fortuitous Friendship
About the Book
- 234 pages
- 5.5 x 8.5″
- Packed with original drawings!
- Download a sample (PDF)
Is meaning found in life’s arbitrariness—or in how it just seems arbitrary?
A man quits his job without explanation. A couple’s shared language dissolves after the loss of their dog. A financial worker hires someone to follow him, only to find out if someone else already is.
These moments—sometimes absurd, sometimes heartbreaking—are delivered in prose so concise you could hold the whole story in your mind at once, alongside illustrations that feel like they’ve been pulled straight from the scene.
Why We’re Excited
This is Edward Mullany’s fourth book with Publishing Genius, and it may be his most distilled yet. Whiskey for the Holy Ghost embodies what we love most about small press publishing: the freedom to let a book be exactly what it wants to be—unconventional, compact, and deeply resonant.
We can’t wait for readers to experience it. Mark your calendars for September 30—and prepare to rethink what a story, and a book, can be.
