M. C. Benner Dixon
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mchristinebd.bsky.social
M. C. Benner Dixon
@mchristinebd.bsky.social
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
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.
November 14, 2025 at 6:04 PM
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...
October 16, 2025 at 2:15 PM
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.
September 9, 2025 at 12:01 PM
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...
August 2, 2025 at 3:22 PM
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
July 23, 2025 at 12:41 PM
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
July 22, 2025 at 1:22 PM
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.
July 9, 2025 at 3:22 PM
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...
June 27, 2025 at 3:54 PM
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
June 15, 2025 at 4:55 PM
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.
May 8, 2025 at 3:22 PM
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
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.
April 11, 2025 at 4:42 PM
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.
April 4, 2025 at 4:17 PM
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.
April 1, 2025 at 10:07 PM
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.
April 1, 2025 at 3:36 PM
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
March 30, 2025 at 3:22 PM
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
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
March 25, 2025 at 3:56 PM
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
March 18, 2025 at 6:48 PM
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
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
March 11, 2025 at 1:38 PM
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
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
March 4, 2025 at 3:42 PM
I am so excited to share my book with you! It will be here in one month. #BookSky #DebutNovel buff.ly/I3F2lSe
March 1, 2025 at 8:37 PM
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
February 26, 2025 at 12:38 AM