Thanks for This Riot

Janelle Bassett’s writing appears or is forthcoming in the Rumpus, Indiana Review, Smokelong Quarterly, American Literary Review, the Offing, Washington Square Review, Wigleaf, and Best Microfiction 2023. She lives in Saint Louis and is a fiction editor at Split Lip Magazine.

"An acerbic examination of family and femininity."-Kirkus Reviews "Thanks for This Riot shows us what happens when we reach for understanding instead of judgment. This is a collection I will be thinking about for a long time."-Julia Romero, October Hill Magazine "Thanks for This Riot is a captivating book from beginning to end. It is clear that Bassett is a talented writer, for each story contains unique characters and emotionally resonant themes. I highly recommend you check out this book, especially if you enjoy the art of short fiction."-Dominique Weldon, Erato Magazine "Bassett never writes a judgmental line-if you are looking for irony or eye rolls, they are not here. Her stories play in shadows without being dark or blindly optimistic. Accept that people and their flaws make a flawed world. There's nothing to be gained by standing in the spotlight; make whimsey in the shade-it's way more fun."-Jeannine Burgdorf, Masters Review “Janelle Bassett’s voice is one I can’t get enough of. The stories in Thanks for This Riot are fresh and unique and wickedly off-kilter but also burn with a wry, age-old, ironic wisdom. This collection is bitingly funny but sincerely so, with little lies and harmless untruths taking on an edge and inflicting irresistible damage.”-Timothy Schaffert, author of The Perfume Thief and The Titanic Survivors Book Club “Janelle Bassett is a phenomenal writer. These stories are smart, irreverent, hilarious, and so wonderfully intimate. It is rare to find a writer who can balance humor with such earnest human emotion, and Bassett does it on every page. This collection is gold.”-Alison Espach, author of Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance and The Wedding People “Janelle Bassett’s writing is hilarious, intense, and alive. Every story in this collection is off-kilter in the best possible way. The characters are all trying to make sense of themselves in a world that doesn’t fit quite right. Reading this felt like being tickled forcefully, laughing even as it got uncomfortable.”-Katya Apekina, author of Mother Doll and The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish

• External Riots: Threats and ViolenceMore Restrictive Than SupportiveThe Crowded Private CottageAll I Need Are These Four Walls and Some Positive FeedbackNo Space Is Too Small When Your Head Is DetachableBabies Don’t KeepInternal Riots: Secrets and LiesProve ItThese New FrancescasPerceptor WeeklyBulk Trash Is for LoversSafe DistancesLaugh Riots: Growing and TryingEnviable LevelsFull StopThe Right LightWilderness MoundThanks for This RiotAcknowledgmentsSource Acknowledgments