Mallory Smart’s Book Notes music playlist for her story collection Book of David

In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book. Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Hanif Abdurraqib, Andrew Sean Greer, Roxane Gay, and many others. The stories in Mallory Smart’s collection Book of David masterfully unearth the darknesses found in the American Midwest. Eric Larocca wrote of the book: “Every reader who peers into the pitch-black maw of Book of David unwittingly surrenders and bears witness to a gospel of cruelty engraved in viciousness, darkness, and unrelenting rot. Bewildering and utterly breathtaking…” In her own words, here is Mallory Smart’s Book Notes music playlist for her story collection Book of David: I’ve been calling Book of David Midwest rot instead of Midwest horror. There are basements, highways, dead friends, old technology, local legends, bad weather, and people who stick around longer than…