An Archive of Brightness
by Kelsey Socha

FICTION / LGBTQ+ / General
FICTION / Science Fiction / General
Print $16.00, EPUB $9.99
Print ISBN: 978-1-941360-65-1
Digital ISBN: 978-1-941360-66-8
Publication Date: August 30, 2022
Rights available: Translation, TV/film
Contact: Feliza Casano, publicity@lanternfishpress.com

Two stoic lobstermen harboring a secret affection. A lonely architect building houses and machines from the exoskeletons of scorpions in a desert town. A girl painfully growing into new wings. A flock of crows and an untidy vulture observe and collect these moments of human tenderness as they build an archive of brightness. Each love story becomes, in its own way, the end of a world—and the beginning of a new one.


A beautifully shaped, poetic book. . . . [Socha] is bold, unpredictable, and a writer to watch.
— Isaac Fellman, author of Lambda Literary Award-winning novel The Breath of the Sun


Photo Credit: Madison Bishop

About the Author

Kelsey Socha once wrote and staged a performance piece about lobsters before subsequently quitting theatre to become a librarian. She is originally from Kalamazoo, Michigan, but now lives in Western Massachusetts with her wife and two cats. This is her first book.

Author Links


Talking Points for Booksellers & Librarians

  • Readers of The Midnight Library and Piranesi will find lots to love in Kelsey Socha’s tender fabulist debut.

  • This offbeat novella narrated by a flock of crows is a great next read for fans of speculative fiction like This Is How You Lose the Time War, All the Birds in the Sky, and Hollow Kingdom.

Comp Titles

  • This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El Mohtar & Max Gladstone

  • All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders

  • Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton

  • The Midnight Library by Matt Haig