Books

Born of Water

A Hybrid Novelette

June 2024 by ELJ Editions

Click here to order.

Praise for Born of Water

Born of Water, by Constance Malloy, is like nothing I’ve ever read before—part fairy tale, part meta, part speculative, part grounded in reality, it addresses family dynamics, especially maternal relationships, but also Mother Earth and climate change through the fabulous character Mari and her obituaries of dead lakes. Ultimately, this is a story of the need to do things differently, both on a personal and global level, to learn from our mistakes. The writing is assured, sometimes poetic, sometimes provocative, and always engaging. I defy anyone to do anything other than read this story in one sitting. I know I will read it again and again and find more to love each time. A stunning achievement. -Karen Jones, author of Burn It All Down

Born of Water is a deep exploration of opposites: nature as both salvation and ruin, humanity’s tiny and outsized footprint, and family as a structure both to be protected and protected from. In a smooth allegory that bleeds into realism through the invention of character, where Mari demands the writer’s ear, Malloy also deeply draws the reader into the world.  -Al Kratz, author of Off the Resting Sea

Subversive in structure and narrative, Born of Water is awash with heartbreak and healing, disaster and devotion, tragedy and triumph. Rippling with beautiful imagery and stunning creativity, Malloy’s writing sweeps you on a journey that plumbs the depths of emotion, questions the ties that bind, and cumulates in a watershed of revelatory wonder. Part psychodrama, part eco-fiction, and wholly original, Born of Water begs to be read again as soon as it’s finished. -Audra Kerr Brown, author of hush hush hush

Allegorical but personal, vision-laden then soberly real, Born of Water is like nothing I’ve ever read before. It bridges familial trauma and ecological devastation, marries mysticism with materiality, and mines dreams and disasters. A lesser talent might have made a muddle of such disparate threads, but Constance Malloy is a deft weaver, and she nets us utterly. The paradox of this mercurial hybrid is the pure distillation its complexities effect, a winnowing to essence, to the most integral, elemental us. “We stared in disbelief at the splendor of it all,” Malloy writes. “This was, as my grandfather would say, powerful medicine.” I love the beautiful philosophy these words suggest. Born of Water reminds us the world is saturated with mystery—or “splendor” or “powerful medicine.” We have only to see it. -Melissa Ostrom, author of The Beloved Wild and Unleaving

Author Constance Malloy blends fantasy and reality, fiction and non-fiction in an utterly original story of escaping a dysfunctional family. You will fall in love with Mari, the story-within-the story character who writes obituaries for bodies of water dying due to climate change. In parallel with the stunning creatures of air and ocean featured in this novelette, we are taken on a ride of highs and lows, the grace of love and the horrors of verbal abuse. Riveted from start to finish, I can honestly say I’ve never read anything like Born of Water. Malloy is a hugely talented writer. -Lisa Alletson, author of Good Mother Lizard

Tornado Dreams: A Memoir

Tornado Dreams is the story of my lost and found emotional and mental health. It is the story of the discovery and rediscovery of my conscious awareness of how my troubled childhood affected my adulthood. It is the story of the person my past created, and my ever-deepening awareness of how I moved through the world as that person, and the shame that wrought in me. It is the story of how I put my ego aside and traveled inward on a journey to the deep waters flowing inside me, guided by the gentle hand of my therapist. It is the story of arriving fully conscious into my adult life, having broken the cycles of dysfunction in my family only after having recognized, owned, and overcome those cycles. I live a life today that does not reflect the one my past would suggest I should live.

If my story can help just one person believe that they, too, can recognize, own, and overcome their history, and live a recovered life as a result, then I have succeeded in sharing my story. I have opened my life to you, in the hopes that it will provide the courage and the strength, and a path, to a doorway for you to open up your life. Good luck on your journey!

Tornado Dreams can be ordered at any local bookstore and Amazon. It can be found on the shelf at Little Read Book in Wauwatosa, WI and Books & Company in Oconomowoc, WI.

Currently, I am working on a speculative fiction trilogy. Check back for updates.