Coming October 2026!
HOW TO LOSE AT LONGING
A. K. HERMAN
How to Lose at Longing is a collection of insightful, sensual and unsettling stories that explore longing, that peculiar human ache.
​
In “Keepsake,” a waitress and a sailor form an erotic bond out of survival and maybe a little help from the supernatural. In “The Rules” a daughter follows her mother’s twelve strict rules to secure a husband. In “Dance,” a young woman uses seduction to create rules of her own. In “Speedo,” a necklace heals a man’s mind, and reveals truths he wants to forget.
​
In “Up Down,” indigenous people revolt against the Capuchin forced labor system with deadly and disturbing results. A devoted husband in “The Both,” searches for a way to keep both his wives, and himself, happy.
In “Small Castles,” a live-in nanny is caught between fraying bonds with her host-family and powerful external forces. And in the title story, a lover’s sudden death forces an old man to return to the past and confront the roots of his own painful longing.
". . . A welcome voice to the rich Caribbean literary tradition.
The Believers is a gift to lovers of short fiction everywhere."
— Rémy Ngamije, author of The Eternal Audience Of One
and Only Stars Know The Meaning Of Space
"The Believers is a compelling collection, with characters exploring their own power in multifaceted ways. Read it for a critique on culture and conformity." — Mslexia Magazine
“With incisive prose, Herman dexterously renders each character
with admirable nuance, delivering emotionally resonant,
illuminating and indelible stories.”
— Mubanga Kalimamukwento, author of Obligations to The Wounded
Shortlisted for the 2025 OMC Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature
Settings . . . are described in deft strokes . . . characters [conjured] with equal dexterity. Each story . . . delivers with integrity and verve . . . confidently and persuasively.”
— 2025 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature Judges
“. . . The Believers is a collective unsettling — an invitation to release yourself from the tales you think you know. Herman’s characters . . . are undaunted players, powerful even in their acts of flinching and subterfuge, written with a startling immediacy.”
— Caribbean Beat Magazine
“Herman's language reaches for you and makes you feel . . . the dignity of her . . . characters, whom we often overlook in the world . . . .
Your eyes can only stray from the pages for so long.”
— T. J. Benson, author of The Madhouse​
Biography
A. K. Herman is a Caribbean poet and fiction writer, born in Scarborough, Tobago. Her debut collection, The Believers: Stories, was shortlisted for the 2025 OMC Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, Fiction. ​
A. K.’s writing has appeared in various print and online journals, including Doek! Literary Journal, Lolwe, The Waterstone Review, Shenandoah Literary Journal and others. A. K. lives in New York and is working on a novel.