How to Court Disaster

How to Court Disaster takes us from wide expanses of open ocean to the enclosed spaces of grimy dive bars, echoing caves, and the holds of a musty ship. A grieving mother explores the secret chambers of a cave system. A stranded sailor joins the crew of a movie being filmed on a remote tropical island. A pregnant teenager finds herself on foot in the middle of a whiteout snowstorm with a stranger’s baby in her arms. A bed-and-breakfast owner struggles to rekindle her bond with the husband who no longer fully remembers their life together. Moving headlong into trouble, the characters in these stories discover they possess the inner resources they need to carry them beyond it: pluck, grit, fierceness, hope, and a growing sense of who they are becoming.

• Publication date: 3 November 2026
• Page count: 154
• Dimensions: Height 209 mm; Width 140 mm; Thickness 11 mm
• Publisher: University of Iowa Press
• Format: Paperback
• ISBN-13: 9781685970970