Novels and short stories
Possible Happiness
A loner teen accidentally unlocks a social life with his sense of humor—but can he unlock meaningful happiness that way, too, or will he first have to face and understand himself?
“Tender, funny, and perfectly observed, Possible Happiness explores the mind and heart of the singular Jacob Wasserman. I loved him, and his journey out of loneliness and into an increasingly complicated world is utterly captivating.” – Jennifer Gilmore, author of If Only and The Mothers
“Beautifully crafted, Ebenbach’s novel is a coming of age love letter to Philadelphia in the late 1980s and to one young man’s journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance. Deeply satisfying, frank, and moving.” - Gary Eldon Peter, Minnesota Book Award winner and author of The Complicated Calculus (and Cows) of Carl Paulsen
“Possible Happiness is a definite delight.” - N. West Moss, author of Birdy and Flesh & Blood
In print on September 10th, 2024!!
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How to Mars
What happens when your dream mission to Mars is a reality television nightmare? This debut science-fiction romp with heart follows the tradition of Ray Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles, with a dash of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and a smidgen of Mythbusters.
“Ebenbach imagines the first pregnancy on Mars in this gentle, domestic sci-fi novel of a reality show gone interplanetary....The result is funny, fresh, and winsome.” – Publishers Weekly
"Six Marsonauts must survive on the red planet after their reality TV show is canceled in this delightfully unconventional novel....A poignant examination of what it means to be human." - Kirkus Reviews
"How to Mars is a raucous joyride across the red planet. It discombobulates for the fun of it, and is sly in raising issues of voyeurism, consumerism, and the unholy combination of moneyed interests with science....The combination is irresistible fun. Through its heartbreaks and surprises, How to Mars is an interplanetary delight." - Foreword Reviews
Available in print, ebook, and as an audiobook!
Miss Portland
After years of medicated struggle, 34-year-old Zoe quits her office job and moves into a trailer with her boyfriend in rural Maine against her family’s wishes and her doctor’s advice. After all, she has big plans with Gordy, a goateed vegetarian with thoughtful eyes and a job at a yoga studio and, as it turns out, an unfortunate desire to always be in control. But when a late-night argument turns violent, Zoe runs away in search of a mystical beach house she recalls from childhood, only to discover that in order to find it, she must reckon with her past. In electric prose that burns with wit and intelligence, David’s first novel, Miss Portland, explores what it means to give up everything in order to recover who you are.
“A moving paean to becoming the place where you belong...a complex, intimate, and deeply humane portrait of a person whose experience of the world is both alternate and poignantly familiar.” – Letitia Montgomery-Rodgers, Foreword
“In David Ebenbach’s touching new novel, Miss Portland, the ‘home’ our protagonist is looking for is a place where she can be accepted with all her idiosyncrasies and passions….it’s about how one woman comes to terms with herself, her choices, and her own difference in a world that values similarity and punishes ‘originality.’” – Laurie Tobenkin, Washington Independent Review of Books
The Guy We Didn’t Invite to the Orgy
“Groups are difficult,” says one of the characters in David’s third short story collection, The Guy We Didn’t Invite to the Orgy and other stories, and she might as well be speaking for all the characters in the book. These stories—funny, surprising, true to life—are about people choosing whether to go it alone in the world or try to find a place for themselves, whatever it takes. They travel across the world to meet new people; they join cults and awkward social clubs; they stumble through strange workplaces. There are belly dancing troupes and patriotic theme parks, barber shops and orgies. There’s a whole world of people—befuddling, a little scary, and riding on hope. In the words of author Roy Kesey, “In this striking collection, David Ebenbach inhabits a series of minds that most of us would classify as unknowable; he does so with empathy and wisdom, and often with humor as well.”
“An enormously lovable collection of stories that explores the alienation that most people feel, but attempts to resolve it, showing that in the end ‘We are all the same,’ if only because we all feel ourselves to be on the outside looking in.” – N. West Moss, Best New Fiction
Into the Wilderness
David’s second collection of short fiction, Into the Wilderness, explores the powerful and complicated experience of parenthood from many angles: an eager-to-connect divorced father takes his kids to a Jewish-themed baseball game; a lesbian couple tries to decide whether their toddler son needs a man in his life; one young couple debates the idea of parenthood while another struggles with infertility; a reserved father uses an all-you-can-eat buffet to comfort his heartbroken son. But the backbone of the collection is Judith, who we follow through her challenging first weeks of motherhood, culminating in an intense and redemptive baby-naming ceremony. In the words of author Joan Leegant, “These stories are fearless, honest and true. They are also a joy to read.”
“This fiction focuses on the most important human relations, the ones central to our conceptions of who we are and what life is about. Ebenbach does this all while playing to his strength: using the small, the ordinary, the everyday to give little glimmering glimpses of the enormous, the extraordinary, and the startlingly true.” – Eve Ottenberg, Washington CityPaper
“The souls of Judith’s story and each of Ebenbach’s stories about the wilderness of parenthood shine brightly in this lush, honest and beautifully written collection.” – Karen Paul-Stern, Current Mom
Between Camelots
David’s first collection of short fiction, Between Camelots, is about the struggle to forge relationships and the spaces that are left when that effort falls short. In the title story, a man at a backyard barbecue waits for a blind date who never shows up. He meets a stranger who advises him to give up the fight, to walk away from intimacy altogether and stop getting hurt. The wisdom—or foolhardiness—of that approach is at the heart of each of these stories. In “I’ll Be Home,” a young man who has converted to Judaism goes home for Christmas in Miami, and finds that his desire to connect to his parents conflicts with his need to move on. “The Movements of the Body” introduces us to a woman who believes that she can control the disintegration of her life through a carefully measured balance of whiskey and mouthwash. These are stories about loss and fear, but also about the courage that drives us all to continue to reach out to the people around us.
“David Harris Ebenbach is an expert on matters of the heart….he will make you bring a hand to your chest with aching wonder….this is a great book of stories.” – Benjamin Percy, Capitol Times
“Ebenbach departs from the literary mainstream with his uncommon faith in human striving.” – Susan Comninos, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
