Deliciously unsettling, picking and poking at the less savory corners of the way we care for one another-but also deeply empathetic. A gorgeous book.

– Amber Sparks, author of And I Do Not Forgive You

Katharine Coldiron's Wire Mothers is a powerhouse of characterization and insight. Each story bites into the reader, giving them stark glimpses into the lives of people they wouldn't think they could possibly understand. People who are more like them than they could ever realize. With each story, Coldiron proves her mastery of language and the human heart.

– Cathy Ulrich, author, Small Burning Things

The stories here snap the synapses, the rituals and routines, and leave you somewhere else, alone maybe, lost maybe, but coursing with electricity and potential.

– Tommy Dean, author of Hollows

Wire Mothers is a smart, slender collection with a fleshy underbelly. Incest, kidnapping, drug- and self-abuse, blood and shit and, of course, those bent-wire mothers (et alia). Reading Katharine Coldiron is like swinging from a chandelier; you know it’s going to crash but the light and the view are simply too dazzling to let go. Such a deliciously dark, satisfying read from a talented teller of tales.

– Debra Di Blasi, author, Birth of Eros