Upon Availability (HarperCollins Publishers) came out in June 2010. In similar fashion to The Joy of Funerals, the book follows the lives of several women tied together by one central narrator, Morgan, a hotel manager - an emotionally battered character, haunted by her dead sister's memory, desperately seeking human connection. The book's jacket cover describes the hotel as "offering sanctuary to some, solace to others, the hotel captures their darkest moments as they grapple with family, sex, power, love, and death." Strauss's essays have been anthologized in Sex, Drugs & Gefilte Fish ... The Heeb Storytelling Collection and her short fiction has been featured in the Primavera, Hampton Shorts, The Idaho Review, Quality Women's Fiction, Stories from the Blue Moon Cafe III, and A Kudzu Christmas. The Joy of Funerals has been optioned for film. Strauss will write the screenplay and Stockard Channing is expected to direct the film adaptation. Death Becomes Them has been optioned for a television show by a well-known producer. Awards and honors The Ingram Award for The Joy of Funerals Best Debut Novel from The New York Resident for The Joy of Funerals David Dorenstein Creative Writing Award for the short story "Shrinking Away" featured in The Joy of Funerals Various awards from the Wesleyan Writers Conference, the Skidmore College Writer's Institute, the Sarah Lawrence Summer Program, and the Squaw Valley's Screenwriters' Summer Program. References External links Strauss discusses Based Upon Availability OliveTV Death Becomes Them Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American women American women journalists