Entry Level

Winner of the 2021 Fiction Prize, selected by Deesha Philyaw

US List Price: $17.95

Buy Now

Also available as e-book.

Entry Level

Winner of the 2021 Fiction Prize, selected by Deesha Philyaw

US List Price: $17.95

Buy Now

Also available as e-book.

About the Book

Wendy Wimmer’s debut short story collection, Entry Level, contains a range of characters who are trying to find, assert, or salvage their identities. These fifteen stories center around the experience of being underemployed—whether by circumstance, class, gender, race, or other prevailing factors—and the toll this takes on an individual. Wimmer pushes the boundaries of reality, creating funny, fantastic, and at times terrifying stories. Her characters undergo feats of endurance, heartbreak, and loneliness, all while trying to succeed in a world that so often undervalues them. From a young marine biologist suffering from imposter syndrome and a haunting to a bingo caller facing another brutal snowstorm and a creature that may or not be an angel, Wimmer’s characters are all confronting an oppressive universe that seemingly operates against them or is, at best, indifferent to them. These stories reflect on the difficulties of modern-day survival and remind us that piecing together a life demands both hope and resilience.


Praise for Entry Level

Finalist for the 2023 Midland Authors Award in Fiction 
“Ghosting” (from Entry Level) was featured as Electric Lit‘s #1 story on their “Recommended Reading’s 10 Most Popular Issues of 2022.”

This gleefully subversive debut presents 15 weird, wild, and wonderful stories of everyday folks surviving in a world gone haywire.
People Magazine

Wimmer’s innovative and darkly humorous debut collection employs emergency situations and fantastical elements as the protagonists struggle to make a living with low-paying jobs. . . . When Mary Ellen, who had a mastectomy, discovers her breast has regrown, the narrator’s understated reaction perfectly sums up the mood of Wimmer’s characters: “We had confirmation that something weird was happening.” Throughout, Wimmer makes the most of strange situations.
Publishers Weekly

An intriguing, wide-ranging story collection with a hint of magic.
Kirkus Reviews, starred

. . .the stories in Entry Level are fundamentally fun to read, and the book is a promising debut for a gifted writer.
Las Vegas Review of Books

Wendy Wimmer’s new collection, Entry Level, embraces all these sticky, visceral questions with tenderness, heart, and a good deal of humor. It’s work that refuses to take the body out of things.
—Kristen Arnett, Electric Literature

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Wendy Wimmer writes from Wisconsin, under the strict supervision of two dogs and a cat. She holds a Master of Arts and PhD in English from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, respectively. Her work has been published in Barrelhouse, Waxwing, Paper Darts, Believer, ANMLY, Per Contra, […]

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