IT’S 2025, AND AMERICA IS FUCKED...

COMING
APRIL 8, 2025

...BUT I WON’T LET IT FUCK ME GENTLY

For fans of Milk Fed, Thelma & Louise, and Chain-Gang All-Stars:

An electrifying debut featuring a genderqueer corporate burnout who embarks on a road trip from Chicago to Arkansas to search for their Trump-loving father, who has gone missing.

When their mother calls with news that their MAGA-pilled, conspiracy-theorist father has gone missing, the newly unemployed queer narrator of Make Sure You Die Screaming does what anyone would do: steals their ex-boyfriend’s BMW and races from Chicago to deep-red Arkansas on a mission to kidnap their estranged father and bring him home.

Now, with a bottle of premixed margarita jiggling in the cupholder and the narrator’s brand-new garbage goth bestie, Yivi, screaming through night terrors in the passenger seat, our hero hurtles toward a family reunion from hell. Along the way, they experiment with Yivi’s mystery pills, elude a relentless stalker, and outrun some cops who believe the narrator committed a tragic murder.

An unflinching interrogation of class rage, economic (im)mobility, gender expression, the rot at the heart of capitalism, and the political bloodbath dividing so many American families, Make Sure You Die Screaming is the loud, funny, suspenseful road trip novel of our times.

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“I loved every loud, messy page. Zee Carlstrom is the first writer to make me feel better about my own life choices.” Sam Irby, NYT bestselling author of Wow, No Thank You

"Make Sure You Die Screaming roars to life from page one and never lets up. It’s a Fear and Loathing for the generation devastated by the generation that brought us Fear and Loathing." Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Baby

"Make Sure You Die Screaming is the debut novel our country needs (but doesn’t deserve). It’s a tight little banger about the shared delusion of family that left my heart, as Zee Carlstrom’s head-wounded narrator would say, 'as full as my bladder,' because putting it down long enough to pee was out of the question."” Ruth Madievsky, bestselling author of All-Night Pharmacy

“Zee Carlstrom’s chaotic joyride had me holding on for dear life. This iconic road-trip novel is a balm for a bleak, uncertain world.” Vanessa Walters, author of The Lagos Wife

“Zee Carlstrom's debut blends asphalt-black comedy with the greasy darkness pervading the nuclear family, the workplace, and the U.S. itself. They should hand this book to anyone who leaves a hair salon with a mullet on purpose.” Calvin Kalsulke, author of Several People Are Typing

“Whether you’re grieving a person or a country, Make Sure You Die Screaming is the novel for you.” Holly Wilson, author of Kittentits

“This intense, shapeshifting, nightmarish debut is like a sweatier, sweeter, queerer, and somehow more mullety Natural Born Killers, where all bets are off, all rules crossed out. Just one line will keep you up all night.” Patrick Nathan, author of The Future Was Color

Thank You For This Press!

Our 10 Most Anticipated Books of 2025, Them

Most Anticipated Debut Novels of 2025, Debutiful

15 most anticipated LGBTQ books of 2025, The Mary Sue

Meet the Hottest Debut Novels of 2025, Goodreads

2025 Yearly Reading Challenge, Barnes and Noble

Places Zee Will Soon Be!

Tuesday, April 15
Greenlight Bookstore | Brooklyn, NY

Thursday, April 17
The Book Cellar | Chicago, IL

Friday, April 18
Moth Oddities | Minneapolis, MN

Saturday, April 26 & Sunday, April 27
LAT Festival of Books | Los Angeles, CA

Saturday, May 3rd
Montclair Lit Fest | Montclair, NJ

The Scream Team!

Literary Agent
Kent Wolf, Neon Literary

Publicity Manager
Chris Smith, Flatiron Books

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M.S.Y.D.S

TOUR SCHEDULE

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