All This Want (and I Can't Get None)

A piercing short story collection that explores the feverish hunger and dizzying pleasure of girlhood and queer coming-of-age in a small town, from an acclaimed emerging writer

Set mostly in and around a small working class neighborhood, Clark explores the lives of young Black girls, women, and nonbinary characters, slicing through the filmy veil between adolescence and adulthood; between who they’ve been, and who they might become. 

D’asia’s friendship with a school security guard is teetering close to inappropriate. Jonessa and Linda have stumbled into a conversation with a man at a gas station who agrees to buy them a bottle of alcohol for a party. Chrissy is looking to play roulette on a trip with her boyfriend but ends up in a hotel room with two strangers. Juju’s mother dresses her up for a meeting with a local music producer. A little sister cringes as a friend tries to hook up with her older brother. A fight breaks out at a party and the video goes viral. A woman can’t stop walking by her ex’s window, hoping to catch a glimpse of all she lost.

In story, Clark excavates the push and pull of desire and power running beneath tender and bare moments. With sharp sentences and great affection, All This Want (and I Can’t Get None) centers characters whose points of view are too often sidelined.