In her debut short story collection, Ripples into the Wild, Abby Manzella explores man-made disasters, climate change, the pandemic, and imagined future catastrophes. Moving between realism and the speculative, the collection features everything from children telling ghost stories to characters confronting actual monsters while considering what might exist beyond loss and grief.
Manzella is a Pushcart Prize winner whose writing has appeared in The Threepenny Review, Literary Hub, Kenyon Review, and elsewhere. Her debut collection is set to be published by Cornerstone Press on February 23, 2027.
Debutiful is honored to reveal Ripples into the Wild’s cover, designed by Paige Biever and Ross Tangedal, along with a Q&A with Manzella about its creation.
While writing the book, did you have any ideas for what you wanted the cover to look like?
The title was the earlier concern for me. Once I chose Ripples into the Wild, I knew I wanted a major visual element of water and the woods beyond it. The phrase is about the long-term ramifications of actions, but for me it also has always been tied to the image of water along with the feeling of a quiet uncertainty. Beyond that, though, I was open to the possibilities. The other thing that was clear in my mind was having capital letters for the title because once I started looking at other books I loved, I realized that cap locks seems to be the wave of the moment!
Can you explain what the design process was like once you started working with your publishing team?
Cornerstone was great about asking for keywords, images, and book covers I liked. I had a really fun time collecting possibilities to share with them. I have a whole folder of covers I like, and I’m certainly going to do that kind of collecting for my next book even as I’m writing it. The press next sent me a few cover drafts, and then there was a bit of conversation as we worked through the details. I was actually amazed at how quickly it all went.
What was it like seeing your finalized cover for the first time?
“Nervous but excited” captures the feeling well. That move from the imagined to the real takes your breath away, but I’m so glad to be sharing it.
How does the cover work to convey what the book is all about?
I’m particularly pleased by the cover’s focus on setting. While several of the stories take place on a lake, this image represents an even larger sense of our environment as well as a thematic feeling of loss because of the absence of people. I’m glad there is a glimpse of the shoreline, too. This bit of land in the foreground provides a foothold for the reader’s perspective and a hint of the space where plants, earth, and pebbles rest. The overall photographic-type image paired with the slightly eerie overlaid blue-greenness in the foreground points out the move from realism to the speculative in the stories. Additionally, this color invokes the unnamed menace the kids grasp in the very first story. The pinkness of the sky also marks a transition in time, but whether it is a sunset or sunrise is unclear. Asking questions about what we have done to our world and to each other are key components of this book. Do these choices lead only to darkness or new possibilities?