Novel · 2019
Give Them Unquiet Dreams
A luminous, beautifully told fairy tale grounded in history and elevated by spirit. Named one of Kirkus’s Best Books of 2019—the novel readers most often ask me about first.
A Guide for Readers, Writers & Students
All My Sites & Books
I keep going back to the same streets, the same faces, the same few questions, and the work has spread out from there into books, classrooms, reading rooms, and a small press. This page is the map. Below you will find every published title with its Amazon listing, every website I keep, and every way into Silver Current Press, arranged the way a reader would look for them rather than the way the internet happens to file them.
The Books
The Whole Shelf, in One Place
Novels, story collections, and poems—each linked to its Amazon listing. For the deeper catalogue, essays, and reading‑group guides, see the full Books page.
Novel · Italian‑American Boston
Molly Bonamici
A coming‑of‑age novel whose stubborn, deadpan narrator descends from Defoe’s Moll Flanders and from a lineage of Boston women who refused to be tidied. An excerpt, “Smoke Rings,” was runner-up for the InkTears Short Story Award.
Novel · Grief & the Sacred
A Prayer for Home
A short novel the editors of the Missouri Review praised for its “well-written, complex characters” and “fantastic voice.”
Poetry · Selected Poems
Crossings: Selected Poems
Twenty poems of family, water, and threshold, from Irish-Catholic Boston to Philadelphia.
Stories · Silver Current Press
All We Ever Needed: Stories
Stories about the quiet kindnesses that hold a life together, and the ones that almost did.
Stories · The Aiden Cycle
About Aiden: Selected Stories
Selected stories following Aiden and his family across the decades.
Stories · Early Collection
Assumptions and Other Stories
The early story collection, where the images the later books return to first appear. The title story was a finalist for the Tuscany Prize in Catholic Fiction.
Stories · Later Collection
Blindfolded and Other Stories
A darker companion to Assumptions—stories about what people let themselves not see, and what refuses to stay hidden anyway. The title story was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Also on the shelf: the teaching titles, the anthology credits, and the earlier chapbooks. See the full Books page or the Amazon Author Page for the complete list.
The Press & The Salon
Where the Books Get Made
The publishing house, its literary gathering place, and the library it curates.
Silver Current Press
The literary press I founded to publish literary fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, including my own work.
Visit the pressTeaching—The Hub
One page for the whole of the teaching work: the literary salons, the ten-session creative-writing course, memoir consulting, and self-paced resources for adult writers and secondary-school teachers. All live teaching is in person in the Philadelphia region.
Visit the teaching hubThe 2601 Literary Salon
Named for the number of the building where it began, this is a catalog of in-person courses in literature and writing.
Enter the salonThe Mulhern Story Library
A growing shelf of annotated short fiction for readers and students.
Browse the libraryBooks & Essays Sample
A sample of published work—the story collection All We Ever Needed, an essay on themes of mercy, and a look at the wider catalog.
View the sample
Teaching & Courses
Where the Craft Gets Taught
Courses, reading companions, and a story-length tool, from thirty years of teaching.
The Art of Telling
Ten sessions on developing a story, informed by thirty years in the classroom.
Explore the courseThe Art of Telling Companion
A workbook that accompanies the course, with exercises and annotated examples.
Open the companion
For Writers Considering Submission
Before You Send Your Pages
Submission guides, one for each form Silver Current Press publishes.
Memoir & Personal Essay Submissions
What happens to a memoir manuscript after it is sent out.
Read the guideShort Story Submissions
What Silver Current Press looks for in short stories, and the usual reasons a manuscript is turned down.
Read the guidePublishing Poetry
Notes on poetry submissions from someone who has read and judged a great many of them.
Read the guideSubmitting Poetry
A submission-side companion to Publishing Poetry—what to send, how to send it, and what happens next.
Read the guide
Press, Booksellers & Readers
Everything Else You Might Need
Press Kit
Press materials for journalists, reviewers, and booksellers, including bios, high-resolution covers, and selected blurbs.
Open the press kitAmazon Author Page
Every book I’ve published, on one page.
See the booksMulhern Teaches English
Lesson plans, teaching units, writing guides, and publishing references for teachers and students, sold as PDFs and delivered at checkout.
Browse the resourcesGoodreads
Reader reviews, ratings, and the full bibliography in one place.
See the reviewsProfessional background, teaching history, and editorial work.
Connect on LinkedInThe Author Site
Books, essays, sample writing, and the press kit. This page is part of it.
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