Casey Bye is the co-editor, with his wife, of the anthology, The Way We Sleep (Curbside Splendor). He previously wrote for Milwaukee's Shepherd Express and was a staff writer at the now defunct Undercurrents section of Milwaukee's Riverwest Currents. He received an MFA in Writing from Columbia College Chicago. His music has been praised by best-selling author, Warren Ellis, and featured in the Chicago Shakespeare Company's 2011 production of en route. You can enjoy all sorts of lo-fi, four-track and electronic recordings at stirupyourgreymatter.bandcamp.com.
Radical Self-Acceptance (for Demons, Nymphs, and Other Near-Deities) is a 108,000-word coming-of-age, contemporary fantasy novel set in the Midwest. After her death in 1999, Alek joins an adopted family of misfit water-based mythical creatures. Hoping to avoid the sort of attention a collection of angsty tentacled young adults and their serpentine and frog-like parental figures tend to attract (especially when one of said group is drowning local boys on the regs), the family moves to Pine Lake, northern Wisconsin, where things are relatively quiet. That is, until this summer, when Brin shows up at her adoptive parents’ summer cabin planning to write The Great American Breakup Album but instead finds herself entranced (Or is she just smitten?) by Alek before getting mixed up in a mess of supernatural activity she’s only ever read the likes of in Kelly Link or Cecil Castellucci stories. Now, Alek and Brin must discover together just what it means to move on. But if they spend all week doing that, when is Alek going to find time to meet a nice boy and get engaged? Based on her track record, the better question might be: This year, who is Alek going to have to kill?
Casey is currently seeking representation for Radical Self-Acceptance (for Demons, Nymphs, and Other Near-Deities) as he begins work on another novel that features time dilation, a talking cat, a nudist colony, and an alien computer that talks like John Malkovich and wants to rule the U.S., tentatively titled Amerigo Round, as well as the script for a graphic novel re-imagining of part of the Arthurian Legend (the sexy, love triangle part) featuring teenagers and called The Vulgar Cycle. Maybe one day you can read them. In the meantime, if you see him, he'll be happy to talk your ear off about Buffy, Batman comics, Saturday Night Live, and especially (oh so especially) King Crimson.