Shut Up, I Love You, I'll Call You Tomorrow: Stories

by Sloane Murphy

Vivid stories of hard-partying Chicago trans women in the 2020s—right here, right now

"Sloane Murphy shows why fun is fun, honesty hurts, and friendships are heartbreak."
—Alice Stoehr, author of Again, Harder

Agnes can’t deal with the coke and the whiskey. Joan’s been getting a little success, it’s not really working out for her. Sybil’s still insane, I saw her last week at the bars, she was screaming at Sara. Maybe actually someone screamed at her when she tried to make fun of Clara for not shaving her eyebrows correctly. It was just before she got hit by that car. Jenny and Joan had to pick her up from Thorek Memorial. Freddie’s still Freddie, but I heard her mom showed up at some point. Just on her doorstep. Orla and Kate finally got around to dating. They broke up though. Carolina? Well she got that job with the Sanitation department, and she hasn’t really been around since.

In this crackling collection of stories, Sloane Murphy shows a beautiful and wrecked scene of young Chicago trans women. With the clairvoyance of Michelle Tea and the precision of Raymond Carver, Shut Up, I Love You, I’ll Call You Tomorrow is a conduit of bleary electricity inside a stubborn, still-beating heart.

Genres: Queer, Transgender

136 pages, Paperback

Expected publication November 10, 2026

About the author

Sloane Murphy is a writer, dreamer, fur mom and crime documentary addict who has developed an unhealthy appreciation for cheesy YA Films, cupcakes and bad pop music. She adores fairy tales, ballet and all things supernatural, drinks far too much coffee, and watches an ungodly amount of Netflix.

She loves to write dark, paranormal/fantasy romance and characters who will shatter your heart. Characters who enjoy stomping on the pieces and then laugh before putting you back together again. And she definitely doesn't enjoy readers tears. Nope. Not even a little.
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If you want to keep up to date with all things Sloane, including where her next book is out, please join her mailing list. You can sign up on her website. www.authorsloanemurphy.com

Reviews

[Crystal Odelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sloane Murphy’s debut short story collection, Shut Up, I Love You, I'll Call You Tomorrow (LittlePuss Press, 2026), is a smart, brutally funny book about Chicago trans women who would roll their eyes if I called them a community. With terse prose and biting dialogue, Murphy centers big personalities and bigger emotions. Even while fighting each other when tired of fighting against the world, their inside jokes and lasting bonds made me feel apart, less alone. Maybe in reading this book you will, too.

[brokebookmountain · Rating 4 out of 5]

the thing about short story collections is that oftentimes, it's a mixed bag. a huge chunk of short story collections (especially *groans* anthologies) feels like it was just a collection of the author's works over the years (which is the case, most of the time). slap a title of the best story in the collection, and boom, there you go, a collection of short stories. this means a lot of these books tend to be incohesive, with some of the stories being better than the others.

going into shut up, i love you, i'll call you tomorrow, i expected that it'll be probably be just like any other collections out there. i was pleasantly surprised that it's nothing at all like that. murphy writes stories about a cast of eclectic characters, all surrounding trans women in chicago. it's raw, honest, and surprisingly tender. i didn't expect it to be so full of heart, considering that a huge portion of the book talks about orgies and drugs. even with all the nonchalance and bleakness that the characters couldn't help but feel, they still come out of it hoping for something better.

these characters bicker, cry, lie, pretend, and judge each other, but despite it all, they care for each other with all of their heart could afford. and i think that's such a beautiful thing to write about. of course, these characters aren't flawless little angels; there were so many characters that i couldn't help but roll my eyes to. still, i couldn't help but love them. sloane murphy wrote these characters with so much love and care, it's no surprise that i ended up loving them too. shut up, i love you, i'll call you tomorrow sits in the ranks of short story collections that i will fondly keep in my memories, just like The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, With the Heart of a Ghost: Stories, and People Who Talk to Stuffed Animals Are Nice: Stories.

that being said, i do believe some of the stories are weaker than the other ones. my favorites are The Beer Drinkers Vs. The Puppy Mill, Thank You, I've Been An Open Wound, Hello Daughter (my favorite!!!!), What Else Do I Have?, and Our Lady of Perpetual Help. i think the other stories are interesting, but these favorites of mine are just *chef's kisses*.

thank you to littlepuss press and edelweiss for the e-arc. also: littlepuss press has some interesting books in their collection! definitely anticipating great stories from this publisher.

[Chloë Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here is a blurb i wrote for this book:
“ What a beautiful ode to staying alive. I read Shut Up I Love You in Ubers in between lesbian parties and on the couch of my messy apartment and at the desk of my bookstore job. And between it all, i fell in love again and again with the Midwest — a place I’m not native to but has held me in a way nowhere else has. It is in the Chicago queer party scene that I found myself, terrified of the future and unsure about my present and nonetheless held by the flashing lights and the cigs between sets and saying hi to the same gay guys i always saw. Shut Up I Love You honors gay Chicago so damn eloquently, with heart and truth and all the scariness in between. What a beautiful archive of the ephemeral Sloane Murphy has created. Required reading.”

And here is a bit more. I mean every word of that. I also mean i have been terrified and alive and felt fearful and felt happy in chicago clubs. And I’ve found bits of myself in so many sections of them. What a beautiful exploration of queer life through interconnected stories. I felt lost in some places but found in others. The story was not all for me so there’s no way I’ll understand all of it. But i found myself in so many bits of it. And i found myself feeling so wonderfully alive despite it all. 4.75 stars

[Rhys · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was really good. Authentic, funny, emotional, and complicated. There's a large cast and sometimes I had to flip back to try and piece together who all the characters were, but I still feel like all the women in this were so complex and well-written. There's so many issues and struggles explored without any characters feeling like mouthpieces anything. This is a short read but I feel like each story was just long enough. Several stories made me snort-laugh while reading and the last story made me tear up. Also, if you, too, are from Chicago (or the area) and/or have spent enough time in Chicago you'll love going "Yeah, I know where that is" as we all seem to do when we read stories taking place in Chicago and what's better than that?

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the title of this book and was so excited to read it. I love getting the opportunity to read LGBTQIA+ books. Once I started, I didn’t quite know what was going on/felt like it was all over the place. I was thrilled there was a variety of characters included, but I just couldn’t get involved in the story enough to want to stick through the entire thing. This might be for some, but sadly wasn’t for me.
I was gift a copy of this book by #NetGalley for review. All opinions expressed are my own. #SUILY

[The Queer Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m so excited for people to read this book. It’s a series of interconnected short stories that really brings a community of trans women in Chicago to life. I loved the little nuggets connecting the different stories, the cynicism and yet hope present throughout and the clarity of writing. There wasn’t really fluff here. Each story was important and surfaced something about the community. We need more stories like this — where trans people get to be whole, messy, imperfect people. What a great fucking book!!

[PT · Rating 5 out of 5]

sisters are rly doing it 4 themselves

Lots of fabulous idiosyncratic characters make up the Greek chorus of SUILYICYT. I'm endeared by the true to life depiction of what it feels like to be ensnared in the quixotic web of a trans community.

Feels like I know these girls, and honestly, I might. I love Chicago(land) and I love transgender. Thank you Sloane Murphy for putting pen to paper and thank you littlepuss press for sending this message to the universe!

[Viktor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story collection captures and depicts a wide range of experiences and beliefs in the transfeminine community and bares it all: the good, the bad, and every unimaginable thing in between. Every person knows that mess is a part of life, but these effervescent vignettes are a riot that will endear readers to all the very human characters. Fans of Torrey Peters and Maggie Nelson will enjoy this book!

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute fever dream of a book filled with a ton of characters each with their own interlocking part of the story. I feel like it went by so fast and yet, I got so much from it at the same time. I'm not usually a fan of short story collections but I loved this one because they show how connected we all are, even when we don't know it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my gifted EARC.

[Squash (Lex) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a wonderful collection of short stories. Because all the stories revolve around the same group of trans women in Chicago, by the end of the book you really feel like they're all your friends, too. I enjoyed getting so many different types of POVs: the girls who have been around the scene and their group of friends for years, newbies, girls who are visiting, a parent. Each new POV honed in on the details of one or two girls, but also gave new opinions and observations on others which fleshed everyone in the entire book out. The characters just felt so real! Also as someone living in Chicago I enjoyed reading it and being able to say "Oh I've been there, oh I know where that is!" about a lot of the locations mentioned in this book. This is a quick, fun, emotional read. These girls felt like I could run into them on the street, like I knew versions of them in real life.

Advance review copy received at American Library Association conference.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this collection, but at times did find the cross over or naming confusing - a double carolina does seem like a challenge just to be challenged. Overall it was a nice peek into the curation and creation of found family. What you may or may not experience as you navigate life and love as a doll in this world.

[Rozuva Phynix]

Thank you Netgalley for sending me a copy. I really appreciate it.

Unfortunately I could not get into the writing style so I have to put it down. I have other arcs I’m very excited to read and I don’t want to waste my time reading something I’m not enjoying.

[Venneh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of short stories about trans women who appear in the backgrounds of each other's stories (because the size of the community always feels that small tbh) and follow up with various characters throughout the collection. Highly recommended read.