Sybil Baker story collection to be released in December

Talismans, a short story collection by Sybil Baker (“Cape of Good Hope,” upstreet number four), will be released on December 7 by C&R Press. In a series of linked short stories, this collection follows the journey of the protagonist, Elise, as she comes to terms with the deaths of her first love, her mother, and especially her father, and learns what she must hold onto, and what she must leave behind.

“Sybil Baker’s Talismans is a contemporary Heart of Darkness.”
—David Jauss, author of Black Maps

“Sybil Baker writes beautifully, with such keen honesty.”
—Patricia Henley, author of Hummingbird House

A graduate of Virginia Tech, Sybil Baker holds an MA in English from the University of Colorado at Boulder and an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She has traveled extensively around the world, especially in Asia, and for twelve years lived and taught English in South Korea. She has been to more than thirty countries, including Mongolia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, Indonesia, Peru, and Turkey. During her travels, she became increasingly interested in the allure and alienation of American travelers and expatriates, and this has heavily influenced her writing. Her work has appeared in a variety of journals, and her novel, The Life Plan, was published by Casperian Books in 2009. Sybil is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where she teaches creative writing. She and her husband, Rowan Johnson, live in Chattanooga, Tennessee.