Los Alamos High alum Leah Browning publishes debut story collection

Leah Browning’s Los Alamos story has moved from the halls of Los Alamos High School to a full-length book release, with her debut collection of stories now out under the title Souvenirs from Another Life. The collection, published in February 2026 by Quiet Ocean Studio & Press, gives local readers a fresh hometown name to watch, and it arrives in paperback, ebook and unabridged audiobook form, with Mallory Fuccella narrating the audio edition.

For readers in Los Alamos County, the connection is not just that Browning graduated from Los Alamos High School in 1992. Her new book is a reminder of how the district’s writing culture has long fed serious literary work. Los Alamos High School says its Pegasus art and literary magazine first appeared in 1964, part of a school tradition that has given student writers a visible place to develop their voices. Browning’s own success now extends that lineage in a very public way.

Her publication record already stretches well beyond a first book. Browning has edited the Apple Valley Review since 2005, building the editorial experience that often separates a promising writer from an established one. Her fiction has also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize anthology, Best of the Net, Best Microfiction, the Wigleaf Top 50 Very Short Fictions and the storySouth Million Writers Award, a resume that signals sustained recognition in the literary field rather than a one-time breakthrough.

Souvenirs from Another Life is listed as 288 pages and priced at $18 in trade paperback. Browning’s website identifies the formats and gives the book a clear path to readers who want to buy it now, whether in print, as an ebook or through audio. That matters in a county where local names often travel far but are still noticed closest to home.

The dedication adds another layer to the story’s Los Alamos roots. Browning dedicated the collection to Jeffrey Laing, a Santa Fe resident and one of her high school English teachers. Laing taught English for 40 years in New York State and New Mexico before his death in Santa Fe on March 20, 2018. For Browning, the dedication links a new publication to a specific teacher, a specific school and the kind of classroom influence that can shape a writer long after graduation.