Laura read and liked Heather Shaw's review of What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us:

"Laura van den Berg was raised in Florida and earned her MFA at Emerson College. She is the recipient of scholarships from the Bread Loaf and Sewanee Writers' Conferences, the 2009 Julia Peterkin Award, and the 2009-2010 Emerging Writer Lectureship at...more Laura van den Berg was raised in Florida and earned her MFA at Emerson College. She is the recipient of scholarships from the Bread Loaf and Sewanee Writers' Conferences, the 2009 Julia Peterkin Award, and the 2009-2010 Emerging Writer Lectureship at Gettysburg College. The winner of the Dzanc Prize, Laura’s first collection of stories, What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us, was published by Dzanc Books in October 2009 and selected by Barnes & Noble as a Holiday Discover Great Writers title.

Inverness originated in the way that many of my stories do,” writes van der Berg, “with a first line—in this case, ‘All evening, the men spoke only of the monster.’ From there the worlds of Emily and McKay, of the Twinflower and the Craigdarroch and the Loch Ness Monster, unfolded.

"The final version of the story, however, didn’t come into the world easily. Out of all the stories in my collection, Inverness took the longest to get right. Between its original publication in Third Coast and the publication of my collection, the story went through numerous changes—adding characters, subtracting characters, re-writing the ending. I had moments when I was certain I would never get the story right, that I would have to drop it from the collection at the last minute, and then, one day, it started to come together.

"The characters that populate Inverness, particularly Emily, still linger with me. I often think of what might have happened on that hillside after Emily opened her eyes, after she left her imaginings and rejoined the world."

Download and read "Inverness" from Laura van der Berg’s debut collection at ForeWord's Book Club.
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Laura read and liked Jacki Donnelly's review of What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us:

"What a great first book for Laura! I am so excited for her as a friend and as an author. The stories in her book were unique and adventureous! The characters were complex and developed. She makes you feel for their sorrows and share in their joy. I c...more What a great first book for Laura! I am so excited for her as a friend and as an author. The stories in her book were unique and adventureous! The characters were complex and developed. She makes you feel for their sorrows and share in their joy. I cannot wait to read her next novel(less) "