A grieving mother ghost-hunts in Virginia City. A college student’s field trip to the Moonlite Bunny Ranch brothel spurs a sexual awakening. A boy starts a wildfire on Peavine while trying to impress his crush. A schoolteacher is dismissed, and the aftermath unfolds in a schoolwide email chain. A woman tries on new identities at Burning Man. All must contend with their complicated histories and answer the question: is being from a place the same as being of it?

Experimental in its approach and unflinching in its execution, Matter Out of Place is an exploration of bright spots of humanity in dark underbellies, a feminist reckoning with “sin,” and a love letter to the strange mirage that is northern Nevada. It inhabits physical and digital spaces with equal wariness, and its characters—filled with grit—navigate the fraught divide between appearances and reality, approval and judgment, gambling everything despite knowing that the house always wins.

Praise for Matter Out of Place

“AnnElise Hatjakes is fearless when it comes to plumbing the darkness of contemporary life, yet her wryness and wisdom illuminate the depths. This rewarding collection of stories is rich with both a sense of place and a piercing clarity of vision.” —Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, author of Likes

“The Nevada landscape of Matter Out of Place is constantly shifting, requiring characters to keep up—or catch up. Readers hold out hope for these characters, while also feeling very strongly just how long the odds are for them to get what they want. Hatjakes is an exciting new voice in short fiction.” —Kate McIntyre, associate professor of creative writing, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, author of Mad Prairie, recipient of the Flannery O’Connor Award

“"Brutal yet tender, wry but clear-eyed, Matter out of Place is an eerie love letter to the West, one that will slice your heart open. These finely crafted stories navigate the dizzying contradictions demanded of women in ways that feel both timeless and painfully specific to our late-stage capitalist present.” —Casey Bell, author of Little Fury (Metatron Press)