From Powells.com
Our favorite books of the year.
Staff Pick
Boy, it's hard to get me to love a short story collection, but Liz Prato managed to do just that. Her characters feel like people you know, and her small stories are brilliant wedges of their lives. With straightforward but lush prose, languid sensuality, and solid storytelling, Baby's on Fire is a tiny gem. Recommended By Dianah H., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Baby's on Fire is a collection of twelve stories set in the West with strong female
protagonists who are trying to find their way in the world as the ties of intimacy are
damaged and broken. Stories in the collection have been previously published by Hunger
Mountain, Carve, Iron Horse Literary Review, Goldman Review, Los Angeles Review,
Hawai'i Review, Cream City Review, and Storyglossia.
Review
"Liz Prato's characters blaze with humanity, sensuality, and hope. Her writing glitters
and her stories push us to the edge: Prato rubs her people together until they spark, in a
book that throbs with heart — and grips our own."
Dylan Landis, author of Rainey Royal and Normal People Don't Live Like This
Review
"Liz Prato's stories are filled with the lost, the lonely, and the damned, and she makes all
of them sing with a haunting grandeur. Baby's on Fire is a lamentation brimming with
wit, candor, and the eternal possibility of mercy."
Steve Almond, author of Candyfreak, God Bless America, and Rock and Roll Will Save
Your Life
Review
"In her terrific debut, Baby's on Fire, Liz Prato pulls off the ultimate balancing act: the
stories are at once beautifully written and tremendously compelling — not to mention
filled with characters so full of life that they feel as real as people we know. A knockout
collection."
Molly Antopol, author of The UnAmericans
Review
"Reading this book felt like talking to a good friend with good music on in the
background. Liz Prato's stories are great fun to read, and funny, and warm as can be, so
even when they are painful and sad, they still genuinely welcome a reader."
Aimee Bender, author of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
About the Author
Liz Prato writes in Portland, Oregon, and edits and teaches everywhere. Her work has
appeared in numerous publications, including Hayden's Ferry Review, The Rumpus, Iron
Horse Literary Review, Hunger Mountain, and Subtropics. She is the editor of the fiction
anthology The Night, and the Rain, and the River. Liz spends an inordinate amount of
time just watching her pets with her husband, who is a musician, writer, and bookseller.
Visit her at www.lizprato.com
Liz Prato on PowellsBooks.Blog
I woke early on our first morning on Kaua‘i. Early, because I always have a hard time sleeping my first night in any new bed, and early because my body was two hours ahead, on Portland time. I started a pot of Kona coffee and opened the curtains to the lanai. In Portland, the sun had already risen...
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