Green Lions
A book of collaborative poetry
A story of two souls in words and images. A medley of Duets, Diptychs and Amalgams where two voices merge and interlace. Each of the twenty-two poems in this book is illustrated by a drawing: the number of Major Arcana in the Tarot. This artistic collaboration between Zarina Zabrisky and Simon Rogghe literally dances off the page."Merging the radical collaboration of the surrealists with the entirely personal secrets of alchemy, they initiate a manual for transformation…" – David Higgins
"...a hugely multifaceted, multigenred piece of art. The words exist as a buoy in the ocean that moves with the swell continuously but never reaches a shore, thus it is and always will be moving slowly and rhythmically."
– Kim Koga, Grab the Lapels
"I’ve not read a collaborative work that came together so well as Green Lions, especially one that is so easy and profound to fall into, and is both unforgettable and entertaining." – Marie Lecrivain, Al-Khemia Poetica
"… out of this world. … This is a mesmerising work that will pull you in like poetry should. The poets complement each other perfectly. They are truly two souls entwined into one." – Kevin Cooper, Kev's Blog
"an incitement to place exploration above blind conformity… teeters on the edge of the cliff in youthful immortality…" – David Higgins, Nostrovia! Reviews
"… all I want to do is to return to the book and drown my day in layers of sensual reality, that magical sweet spot of being. Suspended by words, held by Green Lions." – Nadine Sellers, Last Known Nest
“…heartbreaking…acerbic…mirthful… the narrative shrapnel that is the legacy of Russia’s complex and violent history.”- The Rumpus
A CUTE TOMBSTONE
(Finalist, The Normal School Prize in Fiction, judge Amy Hempel)
"A Cute Tombstone" exists somewhere between poetry and prose... satisfies me like a short story, creating a sense of urgency, while surprising me the way only a good poem can. Zabrisky is a bold writer with a unique voice, and we all should pay attention."—Jon Boilard
“…a talented writer with a flair for telling a moving tale with very little fanfare…”—Katrina Passick Lumsden, #11 best reviwer on Goodreads
"Fresh off of an Acker Award Zabrisky is making her mark in contemporary writing... This is a rising star you don't want to miss."—Devin McGuire
"Zabrisky proves a brilliant spokeswoman for the everyday hero fighting the good fight."—Joe Clifford
"Fifty two pages, no room to spare, crammed full of delicious detail. Zabrisky has proven herself a formidable descriptor, again!" —Nadine Sellers
Explosion
A short story collection
Russia-Ukraine-America. A fourteen year old girl on a family vacation witnesses one of the most deadly events of XXth century. A gay college student is seduced by a high rank official. A young man returns home after his mother's death to discover an impossible love. A newly married couple struggles to survive in the world torn by class and national prejudice-while smuggling drugs through the border. A pop-star in rehab finds peace by making jewelry from human teeth sent to her by fans. An immigrant gets stuck to spilled honey in an ethnic grocery store-on New Year's eve. The daily lives of men, women and children come together into the pattern of a nation. History is made of people. In War and Peace Tolstoy writes that the movement of nations is caused not by power, nor by intellectual activity, nor even by a combination of the two, but by the activity of all the people who participate in the event.."At times heartbreaking, at others acerbic or mirthful, Explosion delves into stories of addiction, loss, exploitation, and emigration, offering readers the narrative shrapnel that is the legacy of Russia’s complex and violent history." – Rumpus
"...[in Exposion] I praised the level of engagement with politics and educating readers while being beautifully crafted."
– Melanie Page, Grab the Lapels
"...a book that provokes thought and feeling, a book to make you itch, like radiation sickness. “Why do you scream so loudly?” a man asks one of the narrators here. The answer is all around us, from Crimea to the strip mall, the Kremlin to the Apple Store." – Decomp Literary Magazine
"EXPLOSION stands each letter of the alphabet against a brick wall, in perfect order, and assassinates them one by one with sniper precision...unflinching, unapologetic, and in no uncertain terms, a declaration of war against impotent literature."
—Wolfgang Carstens, "Factory Reject"
Read an excerpt from EXPLOSION at The Nervous Breakdown: READ HERE.
WE, MONSTERS
A Novel
“…agony, ecstasy, and enactment, ‘the experience itself, the plague itself'.”
-DecomP
In her writing Zabrisky draws on her life experiences: At nineteen, she was solicited by a KGB agent to become a prostitute-spy for the infamous Soviet institution and flirted with the idea. As an MFA student at Leningrad State University (the "Oxford of the East"), she chose to pursue a career in business. Years later, Zabrisky wrote WE, MONSTERS, the story of what could have happened, while juggling her motherhood responsibilities with a San Francisco dungeon dominatrix job.
"...the brutal subject matter is leavened with emotion,humor, and an honest exploration of female sexuality. Much like Lolita...slyly funny and richly characterized."
-Guernica Daily
"...a stunning force of a debut novel."
- Red Fez
"...exciting, fun, tragic, beautiful, and revealing...Engrossing and intelligent, We, Monsters is an extraordinary read."
--Up the Stairs Quarterly
"...this is not a book about either murder or analysis, not about the rote realities of dominatrix work, but about what Freud offers in the manner of Artaud, an enactment, fairy tales as hyperbolic truths, nightmares as myths of origin... agony, ecstasy, and enactment, “the experience itself, the plague itself.” Which we all need."
--Decomp Literary Magazine
"...an edgy, shocking debut. It’s a story that will stick with you long after you finish reading."
-Scott James, New York Times contributing columnist and author of the bestselling Kemble Scott novels “SoMa” and “The Sower”.
"An unabashedly pervy, comedically deconstructive romp through modern motherhood, psychoanalytic theory and the sex industry, WE,MONSTERS is also surprisingly charming and deeply moving."
-Gina Frangello, author of novels My Sister's Continent and A Life in Men
"...the literary equivalent of a Jackson Pollack painting: a multi-layered, amazing, and seductive mess... "
-Marie Lecrivain, Chief Editor at Poeticdiversity
"On page after page, I am reminded why I love literature so much." --Charles Kruger, journalist at Litseen
"... rich and complex, intricately structured novel... We, Monsters provides an utterly intense experience: a totally immersive reader-narrator fusion.
--Polly Trope, author of the novel "Cured Meat"
IRON
"Zabrisky's rapturous prose delivers four piercing tales of the lovely and lost. IRON is a mesmerizing, vicious dream—the kind you never forget."—Melissa Febos
"Zabrisky's stories are like tracer bullets: this here is dark, dangerous, and delicious fiction, folks."—Tamim Ansari
"An elusive combination of elegance and ferocity... a staccato rhythm that seduces the reader into flipping pages long into the night."—Joshua Mohr
"Strange and terrifying, hilarious and sad... work filled with a fierce energy and a twisted imagination that is to be jointly enjoyed and envied."—William Taylor Jr.