The novelette Shouldn't We Dance? follows Hank, a 20-something coping with the sudden loss of his lifelong best friend, Doug. When Hank goes through Doug's old notebooks, he finds a sense of purpose in finishing the sci-fi story the boys started together during their elementary summers, summoning Doug's ghost in the process. Shouldn't We Dance? is a love song to the power of stories and an honest, funny, and heartwarming portrait of friendship and grief in all its knotty mess.
 
Paperback.
Fiction. 
116 pages.
To be published: October 7, 2025
ISBN: 979-8-89692-800-3
 
Donna-Claire Chesman is a Philly-based author with a deep love for all things music, board games, and the Philadelphia Phillies. She is the author of the bestselling music history, The Book of Mac: Remembering Mac Miller and CRYBABY: The Artists Who Shaped Emo Rap. When not writing, she is hanging out with her cats, her wife, and her pet parrot, Ernest Chirpingway.
 
Advance Praise for Shouldn't We Dance?
 
"With grace and skill, Donna-Claire Chesman takes readers on an elegant journey through the whirlwind of trauma, tragedy, friendship, and love experienced during a life, illuminating the importance of memories for survival while also commenting on how living within our recollections can often shape and inform us as humans."
— Jarrod Campbell, author of The Reason I’m Here
 
"A master of grief, Chesman depicts adult life where the houses are 'close, but not quite connected,' and where the pain doesn't get smaller, but somehow you're supposed to get bigger. In good news suits and in bad news suits, this book is your long-lost best friend."
— Claire Hopple, author of Take It Personally