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Things That Are Funny on a Submarine but Not Really Publishing Nov. 4 2025 by Skyhorse Publishing

Informed by an intense pressure of language, wit, and energy, Things That Are Funny on a Submarine but Not Really enraptures with the colorful world of David, nicknamed "Dead Man," and his shipmates. Stationed in Guam, they sail the depths of the oceans, swapping jokes and stories while strengthening bonds continually tested by the rigors of submarine life. But when one shipmate is revealed as a Chinese spy, and another takes his own life, Dead Man is burdened by a repressed guilt and left with a lingering trauma.

Searching for a change, Dead Man leaves the Navy to start fresh as a college student, but his past refuses to let go. The ghosts of former shipmates—both dead and alive—continue to haunt him, and unwilling to stay mired in his turbulent memories, Dead Man navigates the complex terrain of identity and searches for meaning after reentering a way of life that feels increasingly foreign.

Order a copy of BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS stories, published 2021

“Darkly funny, brilliantly absurd, insightful, poignant, and often heartbreaking, the stories in Yannick Murphy’s career-spanning collection, By the Time You Read This, affirm her place among the best of our writers. Each is a wry, sparkling testimony to our struggles to connect in family, love, and friendship. Her narrators reach for ‘the speech of the heart,’ whether from the depths of a submarine, or in an extended suicide note. Like Rachel Cusk, Murphy has invented a language all her own.”
— Kate Walbert, author His Favorites and A Short History of Women

"Murphy’s canny collection (after This Is the Water) serves up an intriguing and illuminating mix of character studies. . . . As always, Murphy’s cool, minimalist style is undeniably appealing.”
– Publisher’s Weekly

Order a copy of THIS IS THE WATER, published in 2014 by HarperPerennial

“Obscenely suspenseful … the suspense is almost excruciating”
– Publisher’s Weekly

“Yannick Murphy, while being one of our most daring and original writers, is first and foremost an exquisitely attuned observer of human behavior. Her characters are so richly imagined and believable that when you’re finished with ... her book, you expect to find her characters’ names in the phone book. Murphy’s work provides pretty much unexceeded reading pleasure.”
– Dave Eggers, author of The Circle, What Is the What, and A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of 2014!

Read reviews from:

• The Wall Street Journal
• The New York Times
• The Boston Globe

Order a copy of THE CALL, published in 2011 by HarperPerennial.

“A triumph of quiet humor and understated beauty. ... Murphy’s subtle, wry wit and an appealing sense for the surreal leaven moments of anger and bleakness, and elevate moments of kindness, whimsy, and grace.” – Starred Review, Publisher’s Weekly

“Displaying an almost magical economy. . . . The Call conjures the quirky satisfactions of rural life . . . true heroism is revealed in the humanity of a taciturn and decent man.” – People (★★★★)

Winner of the 2012 Laurence L. and Thomas Winship/PEN New England Award

Little, Brown & Co. published SIGNED, MATA HARI in November 2007.

“[An] alluring novel, ... hypnotic [and as] softly poetic as it is insistent, [Signed, Mata Hari] it entices the reader from the first lines to give Mata Hari what she always craved: not the secrets that are the currency of a spy, but the rapt attention that is oxygen to a performer.” – Starred Review, Publisher’s Weekly

Buy now on Amazon.com