Villains: stories
Villains by Samantha Neugebauer is the winner of the Washington Writers’ Publishing House Fiction Prize. Set across the United States and around the globe, Neugebauer’s debut short story collection follows characters longing for purpose, enchantment, and love. Bound by conflicts arising from social hypocrisy, self-mythology, and shame, often within mother-daughter relationships, these thirteen stories expose how we misread our lives, confusing what is large or small, lasting or illusory, meaningful or merely familiar. In Villains, Neugebauer delivers a stunning, seductive collection.
“A work of mesmerizing grace and sharp insight…Neugebauer renders people and places with supernatural clarity,” –Danielle Evans, author of The Office of Historical Corrections.
“A smart, tight set of stories that examine its characters’ faults and insecurities with harsh precision….” VILLAINS | Kirkus Reviews
- Learn more about the cover designed by Dave Ring in this Debutiful feature here.
- Learn more about Samantha Neugebauer on her website: www.samanthaneugebauer.com
- Additional sales and marketing materials can be found here.
- Press release here.
- Connected to Edelweiss? So are we. Request an ARC here.
Available for Purchase
WWPH books are available everywhere books are sold. See full details.
Online purchase options include:
Meet the Author
Samantha Neugebauer
Samantha Neugebauer is the author of the forthcoming short story collection Villains (WWPH, January 2027) and hybrid craft-pedagogy book Teaching Writing Through Story Reimaginings: Adaptation as Critical Practice (Bloomsbury, 2028). She is a global lecturer at NYU based in Washington, DC, and serves as a senior editor at Painted Bride Quarterly. Originally from a working-class neighborhood in Philadelphia, Samantha holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University, and NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study. Samantha has taught at Johns Hopkins, NYU in Abu Dhabi, and amassed nearly a decade of experience working abroad in the UAE, Germany, Italy, England, China, Greece, and elsewhere, including a recent position as a research assistant at Georgetown University/Georgetown University in Qatar. Her current novel manuscript, which she completed at the Hawthornden Residency in Scotland during summer 2025, was chosen as the runner-up for the Marianne Russo Award. She is also a member of the National Book Critics Circle and nowadays splits her time between Washington, Taiwan, and other places.
She is the winner of the 2025 Washington Writers’ Publishing House Fiction Award.