Outrageous. Controversial. Entertaining. Illuminating.

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, December 22, 2019 /EINPresswire.com/ --
“In this debut collection, Hayslett’s characters, most of them black, brown, and/or queer, have their personal problems complicated by their outsider status, by ominous politics, and by occasional eruptions of madness and the macabre…The author keeps the identity politics pervasive yet unobtrusive as his characters fight a twilight struggle against a world bent on erasing their realities. .. A gripping collection of yarns in which social disadvantages take on monstrous shapes.”
--Kirkus Reviews – a starred review

“Each singular work detonates with organic precision. Hayslett’s narratives are unsettling, unnerving, and devastating in their final blows, but as dark as these tales may be, they illuminate.”
--Tina Whittle, author of The Dangerous Edge of Things

Outrageous.
Controversial.
Entertaining.
Illuminating.

Debut Author Explores Life on
the Margins In Trump Era

A Kirkus Reviews Indie
Book of the Year!

Where does one go to hear their voice, one that is not always depicted by mainstream media? They reside in the explosive debut book, Dark Corners, (Running Wild Press) by Reuben “Tihi” Hayslett, a self-described queer writer, activist, and story teller.

Haylett’s book was a surprise selection by Kirkus Reviews as one of its Indie Books of the Year.

Dark Corners was written immediately after the election of Donald Trump to the White House in 2016. It was meant to be reflective of the maddening times we live in, especially for a range of minorities who at times struggle to make their way in a nation torn by politics.

“The book centers on queer people of color as protagonists for ways often not seen in mainstream media,” says Hayslett. “The book is intersectional fiction, meaning politics, political identity, race, and sexual orientation are interwoven within these stories, often in surprising woke ways. Much of this book was crafted in just the first few days after Trump’s election win.”

Hayslett is available to discuss the following:

How Dark Corners and books like it fill a growing void.
How his mixed-race heritage informs his writings.
Why the political is personal and can’t be separated.
How the creative arts, such as his book, can be a form of resistance.
Insights on LGBT life experiences, beyond the stereotypical ones.
What life is like on the fringes of mainstream society in the dark underbelly of America.

Dark Corners explores racism, violence, drug addiction, gay lifestyle, and issues of significance for a divided, distracted, and diverse nation. Hayslett’s writing is fresh and inventive. The prose is lyrical while the subject matter addresses both real-world political struggles and magical realism and urrealism.

His fiction and non-fiction has appeared in The Splinter Generation, The Oregon Literary Review, The Surreal South Anthology, TransLit Magazine, and the Mary Sue Blog. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from Fairfield University.


About the Author
Hayslett’s day job is digital campaign manager for Demand Progress, a progressive non-profit advocacy organization that’s usually known for working on net neutrality. His specialized work focuses on digital privacy rights, human rights, anti-government surveillance, and anti-war efforts.

Hayslett, who served on a panel at a human rights conference in Tunisia (RIGHTSCON), is a lead national trainer for the center for story-based strategy, and has facilitated workshops in Chicago, Oakland, Portland, Miami and rural Kentucky. For more about him consult: www.reubentihihayslett.com. He resides in Long Beach, CA.


“It’s pleasing to see such a diverse array characters be so presented in such a normal way. Each individual is not presented as a token, but rather just another human being who has some real life issues that are often rendered invisible.”
--Wagatwe Wanjuki, feminist writer and activist

“The stories in this collection, written before and during the 2016 election, function as a kind of lodestar. They are not explicitly political, but politics hover unmistakeably in and through all of them. They are not realist, but realism pervades even their most magical elements. This is their abiding strength.”
--Asam Ahmad, editor


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