Mary Paula Hunter's debut short story collection, "CAN I HAVE A HUG FIRST?" highlights the distinctively zany voice she developed as a performance artist. The stories feature characters struggling to navigate a world they ride like a wild horse. Problems seem self-inflicted, yet Hunter’s storytelling leaves nothing clear-cut. Is the chaos external or internal?

In the medical thriller "The Pressing Foundation," Hunter blends reality and imagination, creating a new vaudeville. Here, a cheery doctor with a mysterious repetitive speech pattern becomes more puzzling than a woman’s strange abdominal sensation.

​The title story, "Can I HAVE A HUG FIRST?" follows a dance teacher tormented by the chaotic world outside her ballet studio. After a harrowing walk through Providence, dodging falling tree limbs and out-of-control cars, she encounters a clown who is actually her tenant in need of legal help. The more she tries to distance herself from this desperate and enigmatic woman, the more their worlds collide, leading them in unexpected directions.