M. C. Benner Dixon
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mchristinebd.bsky.social
M. C. Benner Dixon
@mchristinebd.bsky.social
760 followers 670 following 320 posts
Writer, editor, coach. She/her. Pittsburgh. My writing trends lyrical, peculiar, melancholy, existential. Books: MILLIONS OF SUNS (2023). THE HEIGHT OF LAND (2025). Covid cautious/airborne aware. Rep: Naomi Davis, BookEnds. linktr.ee/mchristinebd
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mchristinebd.bsky.social
The deal report for my next novel—written under the pen name Mir Benitz—came out this week. It’s kinetic and swoony and colorful. I can’t wait for readers to get ahold of FIRE POWER. This report doesn’t mention the fact, but the novel is also being published in the U.S. by Little, Brown.
Publishers Marketplace deal report for FIRE POWER by Mir Benitz from Headline. White square of text with a dark blue border.
November 14, 2025 at 6:04 PM
mchristinebd.bsky.social
This essay about weeds and teachers came out today on Vox Populi. It’s part of an essay collection that Sharon and I are working on—all nature essays. We just turned the full manuscript in to our editor this week! Here's the link to the full essay: voxpopulisphere.com/2025/10/16/m...
Color drawing of an orange daylily on a white background. Handwritten text: Will Pull Weeds For Cash (excerpts) by M. C. Benner Dixon Green weeds poke up from the bottom of the image. Text: It was a good summer job for a college kid. A quick drive down Old Plains Road, past the AT&T tower, and pull in at one of the innumerable fieldstone farmhouses nestled among the Pennsylvania back roads of the Upper Perkiomen Valley. Elaine would be waiting for me with my tools—a small trowel, a garden rake, a forked dandelion weeder—and a bucket for the weeds. Various plants mentioned in the text fill the margins around handwritten words. Text: I knew my johnny-jump-ups from my wood sorrel, my daisies from my fleabane. I could spot poison ivy at twenty paces and knew the difference between its leaves and Virginia creeper. A cluster of pokeberries hang from one corner of the image. Text: The typical home gardener creates the perfect environment for these weeds. We disturb the soil. We clear it and dig it and turn it over, keeping it in a perpetual state of starting over. From the perspective of the plants trying to grow in our gardens, we are an ever-collapsing riverbank, an endless landslide, a storm-toppled tree that falls over and over, exposing soil to the sun.
October 16, 2025 at 2:15 PM
mchristinebd.bsky.social
This fall, I'm going to be talking about writing, learning new writing skills, teaching writing, communing with other writers, and so on. I would love if it you joined me at any of these events! Most are online. Some are free or sliding scale, some are paid. Please come! See bio link for more info.
Background is a painting of a distressed man. Text: All Writers Are Thieves. September 12, 3:30–5 PM. Inkubator Conference @ Cleveland Public Library (Level 2, Room C). This speculative fiction workshop offers techniques for “stealing” treasures for use in your writing. Filch a fairytale here, lift a headline there—fill your writerly pockets with new ideas. inkubator.litcleveland.org Background of a blue-tinted water scene at night. Text: Flight of Foundry. Online conference. Pay what you can. Writing in the Climate Change Era (Panel), 9/26, 7 PM Eastern. Writing with a Pseudonym (Panel), 9/27, 11 AM. Part of This World: Setting Your Story in Real World Locations (Panel), 9/27, 2 PM. Chill n’ Chat with M. C. Benner Dixon, 9/27, 5 PM. 2025 Debuts Group Reading, 9/28, 10 AM. Navigating Hope in the Darkness (Panel), 9/28, 12 PM. flights-of-foundry.org Background of an empty parking lot. Text: The Holy Mundane. Oct. 14, 21, & 28. 7–8:30 pm Eastern $175. Virtual Sessions, Orison Books. We may touch transcendence once or twice in our lives, but we live out our days here in the valley with our to-do lists, our well-worn paths from one place to another, our daily necessities. Where is the sacred in such a workaday landscape? This writing workshop invites writers to honor the holy mundane: the ritual of routine, the miracle of the dust mote, the unornamented prayer. orisonbooks.com/product-page/the-holy-mundane-a-class-with-m-c-benner-dixon Background of a woman in a polkadot dress mid-speech. Text: Say What? Dialogue in Fiction. Nove. 11 & 18. 6:30–8:30 PM ET. $70/$50 (members). Virtual Sessions, Literary Cleveland. This four-hour online skill-building workshop will delve into the pitfalls and opportunities of writing dialogue in fiction. You’ll leave with new tools for capturing the voices of your characters on the page. Sign up for this hands-on workshop to stretch your skills as a writer and sharpen the dialogue in your fiction. litcleveland.org/classes-workshops/say-what-dialogue-in-fiction
September 9, 2025 at 12:01 PM
mchristinebd.bsky.social
Here they are! The winners of the 2025 Parsec Short Story Contest! Congratulations and thank you to all our wonderful writers, our esteemed judges, our fabulous readers, and all the contestants! @parseconfluenceink.bsky.social
parsec-sff.org/2025-short-s...
Grey and white image of tree roots, human figures, and computer text in the background. Text: ROOTS. 2025 Parsec Short Story Contest. WINNERS. Judged by SJ Powell, Eric Leif Davin, and Barbara A. Barnett Black and white image of tree roots in the background. Text: ROOTS. Amelia Streeter. A Forest's Vicissitude. Youth Story Prize. Black and white image of tree roots and human figures. Text: ROOTS. Alicia Maskley. The Flesh We Keep. Third Place. Black and white image of square roots and a root menu. Text: ROOTS. J.L. Theoret. Blood and Stone. Second Place.
August 2, 2025 at 3:22 PM
mchristinebd.bsky.social
This girl had a quiet voice. At various times, in various ways, people have tried to teach her how to be louder. Now, she's teaching herself.

Read my new blog post: ziziastudio.com/blog/the-quiet-voice
School photo of M. C. Benner Dixon in middle school. She has long, blonde hair and wears a white shirt.
July 23, 2025 at 12:41 PM
mchristinebd.bsky.social
See you at #CleInk25 in Cleveland! I’ll be teaching a writing workshop on Friday (9/12) at 3:30 PM. This is a wonderful, FREE conference. You should attend! More info: inkubator.litcleveland.org
Graphic of yellow and orange flame made of geometric shapes against a blue background. Text: Literary Cleveland. Inkubator. Free writing conference. Burn bright. September 5–14, 2025
July 22, 2025 at 1:22 PM
mchristinebd.bsky.social
Are you going to Confluence (put on by @parseconfluenceink.bsky.social)? You should! I'll be on panels on Sat. and will be leading writing exercises Sat./Sun. And at the end of the busy weekend, you can come to my reading and let me soothe you with my stories—or I might rile you up. You never know.
Pink-toned photo of M. C. Benner Dixon. Text: Find me at Confluence 2025. July 26–27. Panels, Reading, Writing Exercises Lilac background with gold and black text boxes. Text: My Schedule. Sat. 9 AM. Sight Unseen (Exercises). Sat. 11 AM. SFF and Politics (Panel). Sat. 1 PM. Writer's Block (Panel). Sun. 9 AM. Curveball (Exercises). Sun. 1:30 PM Reading! See you there!
July 9, 2025 at 3:22 PM
mchristinebd.bsky.social
That’s one powerful bumper sticker! I am so, so happy about this publication! You can read the whole essay here: iowareview.org/from-the-iss...
Cover of the Spring 2025 issue of The Iowa Review held by the hand of the photographer The magazine is opened to the essay by M.C. Benner Dixon titled “How to pray for rain when you no longer believe in Hod” A bumper sticker reading “I hope something good happens to you today”
June 27, 2025 at 3:54 PM
mchristinebd.bsky.social
I feel like I have been refinishing this table for half my life, but the final coat of varnish is now on, and once it dries I can reassemble it and move it to the back patio
Photo of a disassembled wooden table with ornate carved lion’s feet sitting on a covered porch and sporting a fresh coat of varnish.
June 15, 2025 at 4:55 PM
mchristinebd.bsky.social
Come see me at City Books on Saturday, May 17, 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. to get your book signed and say hi and then get lured into the glorious shelves of the bookstore. I'll bring my fancy pen.
Pic of M. C. Benner Dixon. Text: Pittsburgh Book Crawl. Sat., May 17 11:30-1:30 PM. "I've never encountered a novel quite like this one, nor a character like Red." -Tania James. City Books 908 Galveston Ave. 412-321-7323
May 8, 2025 at 3:22 PM
mchristinebd.bsky.social
As an inveterate punster, I need to point out that my writing retreat turned into a literal retreat when a wildfire sprung up down the mountainside from my cabin, and I was instructed to evacuate. But that didn't keep me from writing! Here's what happened.

BTW: The fire is now 50% contained.
April 23, 2025 at 7:37 PM
mchristinebd.bsky.social
Are you ready for the book launch on Saturday? There's so much to look forward to. Come for an hour or stay the whole time! Learn a new skill, pick up a new book, make some new connections in your community. The book is geared toward an adult audience, but the event is kid friendly with lots to do.
Black and white flyer featuring a mountain advertising the launch event for THE HEIGHT OF LAND by M. C. Benner Dixon. Saturday, April 12, 2025 from 1 to 4 p.m. at Borland Garden in East Liberty (527 N. Beatty Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15206). Black and white flyer outlining the schedule of events for the launch party. 1 PM: Skillshare & Market: learn about low tech skills from local artists and craftspeople. 2 PM: Reading & Talkback: M. C. Benner Dixon and Susan Kaye Quinn discuss hopepunk lit. 3 PM: Open mic!
April 11, 2025 at 4:42 PM
mchristinebd.bsky.social
Hey, #Pittsburgh! Do you know how resilient your community is? Meet local artists, farmers, and craftspeople at my book launch! Sit and listen to me read from my post-post-apocalyptic #hopepunk novel and join in the conversation with me and @susankayequinn.bsky.social about #solarpunk literature.
Text: Borland Garden, Pittsburgh, PA. April 12, 2025, 1–4 PM. The Height of Land Book Launch. Images include a tree branch with pink blossoms, a city garden with a mural behind lush plants, and illustrations of The Height of Land as a stack of books with one book standing upright.
April 4, 2025 at 4:17 PM
mchristinebd.bsky.social
My first novel ends with the image of return. Appropriate, because the process of writing this book has been both a beginning and an end for me—a return to my writing and my exit from the classroom, a new life as a novelist and a revisiting of thoughts and feelings that made me who I am. So it goes.
Photo of tree branches against a sunset. Text: Red straddled his bicycle and gazed at the house, the barn, the trees, faint in the late blush of evening light. The usual pathways through the yard were untrammmeled and overgrown.
April 1, 2025 at 10:07 PM
mchristinebd.bsky.social
Today, my first novel comes out. Now there are two books with my name on them. They are different creatures, these two, but I put my heart into both of them. Readers: I hope these books move you, encourage you, challenge you. May these books start to feel like your books, too.
Selfie of M. C. Benner Dixon, smiling broadly, as she sits in front of a brick house with a stack of her books, The Height of Land, on her lap, holding one of them to face the camera. Two books by M. C. Benner Dixon, The Height of Land and Millions of Suns, lay slightly on top of one another on a wood floor.
April 1, 2025 at 3:36 PM
mchristinebd.bsky.social
Pics from the book launch in Keezletown! Still thinking about the role of people in restoring damage to the earth and the opportunities we have ahead of us—even in the face of catastrophe.

Next up: Virtual launch (4/1) and Pittsburgh launch (4/12)

Photo credit: M. Dixon, J. Myers-Benner, E. Blake
M. C. Benner Dixon, wearing sunglasses and a broad-brimmed hat, holds a copy of The Height of Land and reads into a microphone. M. C. Benner Dixon and her brother Jason, both wearing red, stand side by side in an outdoor setting, listening to someone off-camera ask a question. A blanket spread with cream, brown, and red wool, spinning tools, and other fabric arts. A pair of unidentifiable hands sort through baskets of seed packets on a table set up in a lawn.
March 30, 2025 at 3:22 PM
mchristinebd.bsky.social
The Virginia launch of The Height of Land was beyond wonderful! A big thank you to everyone who participated in the skillshare. To everyone who went home with a book, I hope you enjoy your time in Chert River. If you're in/near Pittsburgh, you can join me for the Pennsylvania launch on April 12!
March 26, 2025 at 12:18 PM
mchristinebd.bsky.social
Where do you go when your heart is broken, and you do not know what to do? Red goes to the height of land.

THE HEIGHT OF LAND comes out next week! Get your copy: buff.ly/I3F2lSe #firstlines #postapocalyptic #snippet #speculativefiction #hopepunk #debutnovel #2025debut
Photo of a river in a green landscape. Text: The flinty slopes of the Celestines dropped away from Red's feet on either side of the ridge's peak. Just below, the terrain flattened into a wide, round hilltop, but here he could balance himself right on the spine of Wheeler's Ridge.
March 25, 2025 at 3:56 PM
mchristinebd.bsky.social
No matter what time we live in, we will always be faced with the question of what to do for our suffering neighbors. May we always keep working to meet the world's need, even as we challenge the systems that created that need.

THE HEIGHT OF LAND comes out April 1. Orders are open. buff.ly/I3F2lSe
Photo of a makeshift tent with laundry line. Text: Red stood awkwardly at the edge of the encampment, his arms loaded with bundles of fabric seconds. Vaughn was already walking up to the first hut, calling out to its occupants. A gap in the canvas contained slivers of two little faces. A mockup of a book cover for The Height of Land. The book stands upright on a cream-colored table and depicts a house teetering on its side on a hill of sand, seemingly underwater. Text around the cover reads: Coming April 1. Preorder now from OrisonBooks.com
March 18, 2025 at 6:48 PM
mchristinebd.bsky.social
THEY'RE HERE . . . or, there, actually. My books were going to arrive too close to my departure for VA, so I sent them to my sister's house. But I couldn't wait! I needed to know that my books were safe and sound. So Emily opened the box for me. My niece Ivy managed to channel my emotions perfectly.
March 13, 2025 at 10:44 PM
mchristinebd.bsky.social
If you're going to have a heart-pounding, head-spinning, life-changing experience, you might as well do it in the ruins of an ancient church. I've always said so.

THE HEIGHT OF LAND comes out April 1. Orders are open. buff.ly/I3F2lSe #postapocalyptic #snippet #speculativefiction #hopepunk #booksky
Photo of grasses growing in rocky rubble. Text: THE HEIGHT OF LAND, CHAPTER 12: TRANSLATION. Red sat on his stool in the ruined sanctuary, his heart pounding in his chest, his hands shaking. M. C. Benner Dixon
March 11, 2025 at 1:38 PM
mchristinebd.bsky.social
Red sings this while in mourning in THE HEIGHT OF LAND, but it's a lullaby. It talks about the world falling apart—the sky breaking, cedars cleaving, granite rifting—but comes back to the refrain: "It shall not break us." A song for a catastrophic world. #postapocalypticfiction #debut2025 #hopepunk
March 10, 2025 at 2:49 PM
mchristinebd.bsky.social
Red has been praying *to* the gods all his life, pleading with them to return to Earth. For once, he wants the communication to go the other way.

THE HEIGHT OF LAND comes out April 1. Orders are open. buff.ly/4hIgND3 #firstlines #snippet #speculativefiction #BookSky
Darkened photo of a church in ruins, the sky visible through its missing ceiling. Text: THE HEIGHT OF LAND, CHAPTER 11: THE PROPHET. Red was reading the prayerbook less and less. Prayers pointed in the wrong direction. M. C. Benner Dixon
March 4, 2025 at 3:42 PM
mchristinebd.bsky.social
I am so excited to share my book with you! It will be here in one month. #BookSky #DebutNovel buff.ly/I3F2lSe
Book cover for The Height of Land by M. C. Benner Dixon in front of a blurry background photo of grain stalks and a rural landscape. Text reads: One month! Coming April 1 from Orison Books
March 1, 2025 at 8:37 PM
mchristinebd.bsky.social
We all know that Red is probably not doing a great job of hiding how he really feels. But we can give him his gold star for being polite anyway.

THE HEIGHT OF LAND comes out April 1. Orders are open. https://buff.ly/4hIgND3 #firstlines #worldbuilding #snippet #speculativefiction #debutnovel
Close-up photo of a piece of rock. Text: Red said everything that he was supposed to say upon departing from a host—all that was proper and respectful. But under everything he said ran the resentful thought that he wouldn't have had to leave if she hadn't wanted him to stay so badly. A mockup of a book cover for The Height of Land. The book stands upright on a cream-colored table and depicts a house teetering on its side on a hill of sand, seemingly underwater. Text around the cover reads: Coming April 1. Preorder now from OrisonBooks.com
February 26, 2025 at 12:38 AM