IN THE END won’t be released for a few weeks yet—but you can now read an excerpt online!

The magazine Human Parts has published one of the book’s chapters as a standalone essay called “Brimstone Belly.”

The site has a paywall, so this excerpt is only available to their subscribers. However, the editor provided me with a “friend link” so I can share it with my own followers for free. (Shh…)

Most days, I was fairly certain that when I died, God would take me into heaven. When I awoke blearily to the beeps of my alarm each morning, blinking and groaning and needing to shower, this was my thought: heaven or hell? When I shampooed my dirty-blond hair and soaped my greasy forehead with salicylic acid scrub, this was my thought: heaven? Or hell? Then I pulled on my cotton underwear and jeans, hooked my bra, chose a T-shirt and maybe a sweater, and headed to the high school.

(A side note for those who continue: most of the names in Part I of IN THE END are unchanged, but “Mr. Buchanan” is a pseudonym.)

Thank you to editor Jay Ludlow Martin for selecting this piece for the magazine.

And, as always, thank you to all of you for reading.