One day at work, a young newspaper reporter is suddenly struck with a mysterious pain in her hands that renders her unable to type. Kim initially believes the disorder鈥攁s she refers to it鈥攚ill disappear quickly. But attempts at treatment fail and no medical professional seems able to diagnose her. Is it a problem of posture? Stress from work? Fear of nearby wildfires or a past trauma, perhaps connected to the tragic death of her maybe-a-hoarder mother many years ago? Though the disorder puts her job, her relationship, and her state of mind in jeopardy, Kim begins to feel a strange kinship to the pain, a desire to 鈥渙bey鈥 it鈥攁 sentiment affirmed by her naturalist boyfriend, who has plans of his own for an idyllic future. Will submitting to the pain enable Kim to transcend it, or will it further derail her from the life she intended to lead?
鈥淎 prescient and absurdist office drama that is equal parts hilarious and haunting. Reading this book felt like looking at melted glass.鈥濃擱ita Bullwinkel, author, Headshot
鈥The Extremities! is a peculiar and perfect novel. Eerie, maddening, and sometimes even funny, Kimmey鈥檚 novel is art for the fearful present, humming a note of dread that feels both hauntingly familiar and completely new.鈥濃擫ydia Kiesling, author, Mobility
鈥淪amantha Kimmey鈥檚 The Extremities! is a slow-burn of a disaster novel where a local reporter navigates her anti-tech, anti-tourist, back-to-nature boyfriend, the increased fires in the dry and heavily forested area nearby, an undiagnosed nerve pain disorder that confounds all comers, a bizarre dictation program and the even more bizarre box that reads her thoughts, administered by her boyfriend鈥檚 friend Lee, whose rich landlords have begun to buy up more and more land; in fact, many shadowy figures seem to be buying up more and more land, the story becomes a short of Pynchonian conspiracy met by a person who, like every last one of us, is just not equipped to deal with that kind of shit. It is a story about the things we carry with us and the things that will bury us; it is about everyone asking us what we ask of the world and we simply cannot seem to find the words. You鈥檒l get all the answers you were looking for. What happens next is up to you.鈥濃擲asha Fletcher, author, Be Here to Love Me at the End of the World
