Mouth Like Burned Wood

Our block was quiet, all the houses lit with what looked like love. I hopped up onto the mailbox and buried my nose in Skullface’s furry neck. He smelled like old sheets and earth. He was calm in my arms, purring, and I thought I could live on that and red wine for a while. - Excerpt from I Remember Like It Was Someone Else from Mouth Like Burned Wood. Jan M. Leotti’s mini collection of her previously published short stories explores the challenges and triumphs of being a young girl. Grappling with loss, growing up, and new-found sexuality, each character finds her way through moments of heartbreak and beauty. A family Christmas dinner, a bleak snow-covered graveyard, a magic show, and a sexy, unreachable mother, are the worlds wherein each character reveals her strength and finds her own truth.

Leotti’s mini collection of short stories and vignettes can be read by both young adults and adults.