Doing Our Damndest (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781736275078)

Stephanie Strange, the whimsically dark frontwoman of the beloved local avant-garde ensemble Strange & the Familiars, is trading the guitar and microphone for the printed page. Her debut collection, a raw fusion of short memoir and unfiltered poetry, offers a visceral roadmap through this mad world she has spent years navigating on stage.

Known for her haunting vocals and theatrical storytelling, Strange's transition to literature feels less like a pivot and more like a stripping away of layers. Despite having never formally studied poetry, Strange possesses a rare, intuitive command of the medium. Her work ties together the jagged threads of politics, trauma, and the gritty realities of drug and alcohol abuse, weaving them into a tapestry that is as heartbreaking as it is hopeful.

The collection serves as a companion to her musical legacy-encapsulating the overwhelming, often chaotic experience of modern existence. Strange represents herself as a perpetual loser, a title she wears with a mix of dark, wry humor and startling vulnerability.

The book is defined by a unique juxtaposition of raw unflinching accounts of personal struggle and societal fracture, her wry self-deprecating wit that provides levity in the dark, and the tender childlike wonder that refuses to be extinguished by the weight of the world.