The Neighborhood Dames – Light Copyedit – Literary Fiction

In my work at Ooligan Press, I get to work on so many books I’m so excited about, and this sample is from one of them.

The Neighborhood Dames by Portland author and publisher Laura Stanfill (Forest Avenue Press) is a historical literary fiction novel that takes place in the Prohibition era. There are so many layers to this book—illicit cider, Tin Pan Alley, a friendship shaped by the times, neurodivergence, and literal dismantling of the patriarchy—and it’s written so well. When we were reading it for a pitch last academic year, I couldn’t put it down.

The Neighborhood Dames comes out November 10, 2026.

The copyedit of this book was one of the smoothest I ever took part in. I mostly just played hyphenation police and suggested a few word changes. It was a joy to work on such polished prose.

Here’s a PDF of a sampling of my edits:

TND CE SamplesDownload

Here’s the cover, designed by my Ooligan Press colleague Kaitlyne Bozzone (@residentsapphic on IG), the manager of our Design department, who is always awesome to work with. Again, I did NOT design this, but wanted to include it for the visual element of the cover, as well as to plug Kaitlyne’s work!

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Published by Chrys Buckley

Chrys Buckley was born with albinism, which means she has no pigment and she’s legally blind. Chrys has bachelor’s degrees in Arts & Letters, Micro/Molecular Biology, and Biochemistry. She endured approximately ¾ of medical school before breaking free to focus on writing and disability advocacy. She’s currently in the Book Publishing graduate program at Portland State University, pursuing concentrations in Book Editing and Book Design. Chrys is the manager of the Digital and Audio departments at Ooligan Press. Her nonfiction has appeared in The Sun, Shark Reef, and Aerial. She was a finalist (twice) in MTV’s “I’m from Rolling Stone” writing contest. She has won the R.L. Gilette Scholarship and the Sophie Kerr Gift in English Literature. Her debut collection Invisible Violets: A Mixtape in Lyric Essays is forthcoming from Wandering Aengus Press. Chrys lives, works, walks, and writes in Portland.

What do YOU think?