Synopses & Reviews
A farmer perishing under a fallen tractor makes a last stab at philosophizing: “There was nothing dead that was ever beautiful.” It is a sentiment belied not only by the strange beauty in his story but also in the rough lives and deaths, small and large, that fill these haunting tales. Pulp-fiction grim and gritty but with the rhythm and resonance of classic folklore, these stories take place in a world of shadowy figures and childhood fears, in a countryside peopled by witches and skinflints, by men and women mercilessly unforgiving of one another’s trespasses, and in nights prowled by wolves and scrutinized by an “agonized and lamenting” moon. Ervin D. Krause’s characters pontificate in saloons, condemning the morals of others as they slowly get sloshed; they have affairs in old cars on winter nights; they traffic in gossip, terrorize their neighbors, steal, hunt, and spy. This collection includes award-winning stories like “The Snake” and “The Quick and the Dead” as well as the previously unpublished “Anniversary,” which stirred a national controversy when it was censored by the University of Nebraska and barred from appearing in
Prairie Schooner. Krause’s portrayal of the matter-of-fact cruelty and hopeful fragility of humanity is a critical addition to the canon of twentieth-century American literature.
Learn more about Ervin D. Krause.
Review
“I love this book. The characters in Little Sinners are sexy and knowing, and often behave badly, which makes them such fun to read about. They all possess bold, wayward hearts, and appetites that lead them to bliss or self-destruction, sometimes both.”—Christine Sneed, author of Portraits of a Few of the People Ive Made Cry, Grace Paley Prize winner Michael Adelberg - New York Journal of Books
Review
“Karen Browns stories are smart and psychologically acute, far from naive, yet filled with the glamour of falling in love, even drowning in it. Readers will find much to admire—and to love—in Little Sinners, and Other Stories.”—Laura Furman, author of The Mother Who Stayed and series editor of The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories Christine Sneed
Review
"Starting with the title story, about two friends whose cruel childhood prank has unexpected consequences, Brown delivers engaging gems with well-drawn heroines, mostly teenage girls or unhappy wives, whose fates are twisted by the interplay of love and death. . . . The suspenseful writing and menacing erotic tension have a narrative pull that compels attention."—Publishers Weekly starred review
Review
"Brown's detailed style, meticulous in describing character and place, creates realistic slices of life. . . . Her stories will appeal to short-fiction readers for their strength of style and depth of emotional resonance."—Ellen Loughran, Booklist
Review
"Karen Brown pulls off a Steinbeck-ian trifecta (powerful realism, literary depth, and unpretentious storytelling) with Little Sinners. This is a powerful and rare achievement that defines only topnotch authors."—Michael Adelberg, New York Journal of Books
Review
"In a era where female writers and characters are still sometimes marginalized, Karen Brown and a collection like Little Sinners and Other Stories ought to championed, not because of who wrote it, but because its mastery of the art form."—Word/Sound
Review
"Brown's emotional stories cut to the quick. They wound; they scar. The sto Word/Sound
Review
"The work of Karen Brown might be described as suburban noir, because it takes the expected situations, the same old rituals of everyday life and shows us the seedy underbelly, the darker moments, the ways we fail and fall down. . . . With an ear for life and history, an eye for the little things we take for granted every day, and a heart full of longing for our hopes and desires, she gives us a powerful collection of stories that will stay with us long after the dinner bell has rung and the children are sound asleep."—Richard Thomas, Nervous Breakdown Bookmagnet's Blog
Review
"One of the greatest strengths of Little Sinners, and Other Stories is the way Brown ends each piece. She has a knack for the backhanded reveal and settling into just the right emotional pitch, something between despair and anxious resignation, a feeling that aptly fits her characters and settings. Her endings are complicated moments, revelations of the tension between wanting to give in or wanting to give up in the face of one's interior darkness."—Michelle Bailat-Jones, Necessary Fiction
Review
"Offering sharp dialogue and a sense of the absurd, the book's 11 stories evoke compassion rather than pity for this cast of wretched souls. Humorous and vibrant."—Publishers Weekly
Review
"Aliu's colorful characters, both resilient yet troubled, bolster the 11 spirited tales."—Leah Strauss, Booklist Online
Review
"Filled with both humor and compassion these original stories reflect the bog which sucks the hard up and those living on the edge deeper into the quicksand of life. . . . The stories will appeal to the adolescents and the bewildered young who will recognize their own ruminations so aptly expressed by the emotionally tortured characters."—Aron Row, San Francisco Book Review
Review
“There is a lot of the body in these stories: stink and rot and perfume and dead skin. Often out of control and goofy, Domesticated Wild Things is also extremely funny and mordant. The wild energy of Alius diction mocks and illuminates the English language.”—Sherman Alexie, author of Blasphemy: New and Selected Stories
Review
“Xhenet Alius stories evoke with fierceness and a resilient compassion what it means to be disadvantaged and self-destructive, her characters negotiating the kind of homes in which your bed and your mother might be missing, or in which your husband might be raising venomous snakes in your bedroom closet. Her protagonists live at that intersection of the ethnically despised and the economically demolished, but theyre not ready to quit, and they never stop believing that everyone, everywhere, is entitled to a little something special.”—Jim Shepard, author of You Think Thats Bad
Review
"The 11 linked stories in Gautier's debut collection . . . vividly evoke Puerto Rico's intoxicating, comforting atmosphere—that unbreakable tether binding struggling people in crowded Northeastern U.S. cities to their tropical homeland. . . . Gautier captures the unique experience, and predicament, of Puerto Ricans living in the mainland U.S."—Publishers Weekly
Review
"Gautier's linked stories deftly capture her characters' internal struggles for identity and home."—Leah Strauss, Booklist
Review
“In these richly textured and at times heartbreaking stories, Amina Gautier forges the links between generations and across oceans. She is a builder of bridges as she strives to find that middle ground between the two islands—Manhattan and Puerto Rico—that exert their tug on her characters and shape who they are and what they become.”—Mary Morris, author of Revenge
Review
“In these moving, dramatic stories about hunger and fullness, Amina Gautier explores what it means to strive and live in the margins of American hope. Her shrewd compassion brings together characters determined to be happy and shows the cost of happiness with vivid, rich intelligence.”—Erin McGraw, author of Better Food for a Better World.
Review
“
In Reach is a
Winesburg, Ohio for the contemporary Great Plains. . . . Filled with complicated human stories, it is a joy to read and will stay with the reader for a long, long time.”—Dan OBrien, author of
A Wild Idea
Review
“Pamela Carter Joerns fictional village of Reach, Nebraska, is populated by people you have known, or known of, all your life. In these glimpses of life as it is really lived, you will encounter your aunt Ella, your grandfather Leland, even the uncle no one mentions. You may agree that God is not absent if you are there. You will never forget Marlene and Vernon. Each character is doing “the best he can do” to harvest satisfaction from their lives. Searching for connections, you will find these folks in reach of your heart.”—Linda M. Hasselstrom, author of
No Place Like Home and
Dirt Song
Review
“
In Reach is an elegant, pitch-perfect book. . . . Pamela Joern has once again demonstrated that shes the real thing, a masterful writer capable of showing us the world through the passions, disappointments, secrets, losses, and small achievements of characters whose submerged lives are played out against the harsh beauty of the Nebraska plains. I loved this book.”—Ladette Randolph, author of
Havens WakeReview
"Joern's talent is in creating fully realized, interesting characters and unambiguous stories that weave together several threads."—Mary Ann Grossmann, twincities.com
Review
"Told with respect, grit, and truth, Now We Will Be Happy is a powerful collection about family, identity, and the sacrifices we make in our pursuits of happiness."—Laura Farmer, Cedar Rapids Gazette
Review
"This may not be the Connecticut you thought you knew, but I, for one, am grateful to see those velvet curtains drawn aside."—Jennifer Kelly, Center For Literary Publishing
Review
"Krause's portrayal of the matter-of-fact cruelty and hopeful fragility of humanity is a critical addition to the canon of 20th-century American literature."—Nebraska Magazine
Review
“Although there is not a single ghoul or specter to be found in the fiction of Ervin Krause, these sad, troubling stories will haunt you. He anatomized every part of us: our wicked wishes, our shameful fears, and our tragic desires.”—Owen King, author of
Double Feature: A NovelReview
“Krause is a brilliant and important writer without a book. His death at an early age cut short what surely would have been an important literary career. . . .
You Will Never See Any God is both an act of rescue and a critical consideration of a body of work.”—Hilda Raz, author of
What Happens and former editor of
Prairie SchoonerReview
“Joy Castro’s writing is like watching an Acapulco cliff diver. It takes my breath away every time.”—Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street
Review
“I love the stories in How Winter Began: the taut narratives, the deft portrayal of characters who, though vulnerable, are stunning in their fierce determination. Reading, I had very physical reactions—sharp intakes of breath, stinging eyes, tightening scalp, adrenaline. It was like being gut-punched again and again, but in a very good way.”—Lorraine López, author of Homicide Survivors Picnic and Other Stories
Review
“These masterful and moving stories whisk us to the brittle edge, the place where pain splinters the husk from which understanding emerges.”—Lorraine López, author of Homicide Survivors Picnic, and Other Stories
Review
“Bryn Chancellor is an amazing, sensitive, and thoughtful writer. . . . The depth on display in these carefully crafted, emotionally resonant stories is staggering.”—Kevin Wilson, author of Tunneling to the Center of the Earth and The Family Fang
Review
“When Are You Coming Home? is a knockout! These nine stories turned me into an emotional pinball, zinging from humor to heartbreak and back again. Bryn Chancellor is the real thing, a true artist and one hell of a storyteller.” —Tayari Jones, author of Silver Sparrow
Review
"Joern is a seasoned tour guide. As she tells her stories, she lets us know that she understands our broken, beautiful, humanity. For that we should give her thanks."—Aaron Klink, Collegeville Institute
Review
and#8220;In Katherine Vazand#8217;s new volume of short fiction, she demonstrates brilliantly that rare quality of truly fine writingand#8212;a deeply profound knowingness about the human condition. Our Lady of the Artichokes and Other Portuguese-American Stories will even more widely prove what is already clear to many: Katherine Vaz is a master of the short story.and#8221;and#8212;Robert Olen Butler, author of the Pulitzer Prizeand#8211;winning A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
Review
and#8220;Katherine Vaz is an old-fashioned storyteller in the best sense.and#160;Her work is sensual, rich in detail and layered history.and#160;Her stories overflow with incident and feeling.and#160;Other writers present fruit plates.and#160;Vaz serves cornucopias.and#8221;and#8212;Allegra Goodman, author of Intuition and Kaaterskill Falls
Review
"Vaz is a soulful writer who understands her protagonists' complex lives, as well as the way religious beliefs can assert themselves most powerfully after leaving native soil."and#8212;Publishers Weekly
Review
"This slim, sophisticated story collection demonstrates Vaz's many enviable skills. Several stories rely on a unifying theme, such as dealing with fear or coping with loss. But instead of being structured on an arc of conflict, climax and resolution, these cerebral pieces demand that readers assemble the pictures for themselves."and#8212;SFGate.com
Review
"One comes away from these stories believing that it is possible to bargain with, sacrifice to, confront, divert, and even overcome adversity. In this wonderful collection, Vaz gives us characters who delight in the marvelous, which lurks, often undetected, just beneath the surface of our ordinary lives."and#8212;Joyce Wilson, Harvard Review
Review
"Vaz writes with quiet ease and skilland#8212;and her explorations of lives absent of grace are subtle and worth reading."and#8212;B. J. Hollars, Pleiades
Synopsis
Winner of the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction, Karen Browns
Little Sinners, and Other Stories features a sad, strange mosaic of women and men grappling with the loss and pain of everyday existence, people inhabiting a suburban landscape haunted by ghosts: a mother who leaps from a ridge, a mistress found at the bottom of the Connecticut River, a father who dresses in a pale blue-custom suit—and disappears. The dead leave behind postcards, houses, bottles of sherry, bones. They become local legends, their stories part of the characters own: an expectant mother in an isolated cottage on Long Island Sound uncovers an unsettling secret in her backyard; a troubled housewife is lured to a dinner party by a teenage girl whose mother has vanished under mysterious circumstances; a woman and her lover swim the pools of their neighborhood under cover of darkness; a young heiress struggles with mortality and the abandonments in her past.
These stories capture the domestic world in all its blighted promise—a world where womens roles in housekeeping, marriage, childbirth, and sex have been all too well defined, and where the characters fashion, recklessly and passionately, their own methods of escape.
Synopsis
Just down the highway from Connecticuts Gold Coast is the states rusty underbelly, the wretched, used-up sort of place where you might find Xhenet Alius Domesticated Wild Things: the reluctant mothers, delinquent dads, and not-quite-feral children, yet dreamers all. These are the children of immigrants who found boarded-up brass mills instead of the gilded streets of America; theyre the teenaged girls raised in the fluorescent glow of Greek diners, the middle-aged men with pump trucks and teratomas. These are people who have fled, or who should have. And if they are indeed familiar, it is because Aliu writes what is real, whether we ourselves, her readers, have seen it up close or not. And her stories make sense in a way that matters.
A young mother buys into a real-estate investment seminar offered on an infomercial, only to be put back into her place by a bully in foreclosure. A closeted wrestler befriends a latchkey seven-year-old neighbor who harbors secrets of her own. A YMCA counselor tries to reclaim shoes stolen by a troubled young camper.
What they share is a biting humor, an eye for the absurd, and fumbling attempts at human connection, all rendered irresistible—and as moving as they are amusing—by a writer whose work is at once edgy and endearing and prize winning for reasons any reader can appreciate.
Synopsis
Now We Will Be Happy is a prize-winning collection of stories about Afro-Puerto Ricans, U.S.-mainland-born Puerto Ricans, and displaced native Puerto Ricans who are living between spaces while attempting to navigate the unique culture that defines Puerto Rican identity. Amina Gautiers characters deal with the difficulties of bicultural identities in a world that wants them to choose only one.
The characters in Now We Will Be Happy are as unpredictable as they are human. A teenage boy leaves home in search of the mother he hasnt seen since childhood; a granddaughter is sent across the ocean to broker peace between her relatives; a widow seeks to die by hurricane; a married woman takes a bathtub voyage with her lover; a proprietress who is the glue that binds her neighborhood cannot hold on to her own son; a displaced wife develops a strange addiction to candles.
Crossing boundaries of comfort, culture, language, race, and tradition in unexpected ways, these characters struggle valiantly and doggedly to reconcile their fantasies of happiness with the realities of their existence.
Synopsis
In writing both rich and evocative, Pamela Carter Joern conjures the small plains town of Reach, Nebraska, where residents are stuck tight in the tension between loneliness and the risks of relationships.
With insight, wry humor, and deep compassion, Joern renders a cast of recurring characters engaged in battles public and private, epic and mundane: a husband and wife find themselves the center of a local scandal; a widow yearns for companionship, but on her own terms; a father and son struggle with their broken relationship; a man longs for escape from a communitys limited view of love; a boys misguided attempt to protect his brother results in a senseless tragedy. In the town of Reach, where there is hope and hardship, connections may happen in surprising ways or lie achingly beyond grasp.
Synopsis
Iréne gives the wealthy businessmen what they want, diving headfirst into the filthy river, thinking only of providing for her baby daughter, Marisa, as the men salivate over her soaked body emerging onto the bank. A young boy tries to befriend the reticent younger sister of the town’s cruelest bully, only to discover the family betrayal behind her quiet countenance. Josefa, a young bride, is executed for murdering the man who raped her. Joy Castro’s How Winter Began traces these and other characters as they seek compassion from each other and themselves.
Thematically linked by the lives of women, especially Latinas, and their experiences of poverty and violence in a white-dominated, wealth-obsessed culture, How Winter Began is a delicately wrought collection of stories. The question at the heart of this riveting book is how or whether to trust one another after the rupture of betrayal.
Synopsis
Humans have always connected deeply to the idea of home. In Bryn Chancellor’s nine stories, home means, in part, the physical spaces: the buildings, cities and towns, the fragile, imperious landscapes of the region. But home is also profoundly rooted in intangibles. Set in urban and rural Arizona, home, for the characters in these stories, is love—familial, romantic, and unrequited. It is loss and grief. It is the memories that surface late at night. It is mystery and longing and a shining flicker of hope.
In the title story, a locksmith prowls empty houses and befriends a young mother as he and his wife grapple with a tragedy perpetrated by their son. During an overseas trip, a daughter grieving for her father struggles with her mother’s altered appearance; an irrigation worker meets a troubled teenage girl in the darkness of her flooded yard; and a daughter and her estranged, ailing mother stay in a dilapidated cabin while a mountain lion stalks the woods. Through chance meetings between strangers, collisions within families, and confrontations with the self, these characters leave and return, time and again, trying desperately to find their way home.
Synopsis
The stories in this prize-winning collection evoke a complete world, one so richly imagined and finely realized that the stories themselves are not so much read as experienced. The world of these stories is Portuguese-American, redolent of incense and spices, resonant with ritual and prayer, immersed in the California culture of freeway and commerce. Packed with lyrical prose and vivid detail, acclaimed writer Katherine Vaz conjures a captivating blend of Old World heritage and New World culture to explore the links between families, friends, strangers, and their world.
and#160;
From the threat of a serial killer as the background for a young girland#8217;s first brush with death to the fallout of a modern-day visitation from the Virgin Mary; from an AIDS-stricken squatter refusing to vacate an empty Lisbon home to a motherand#8217;s yearlong struggle with the death of her synesthetic daughter, these deft stories make their world ours.
About the Author
Joy Castro is a professor of both English and ethnic studies at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She is the author of two thrillers: Hell or High Water, winner of the 2013 Nebraska Book Award and the National Latino Book Club’s book of the month selection; and Nearer Home. She is also the author of such acclaimed nonfiction as Island of Bones: Essays and The Truth Book: A Memoir, both published by the University of Nebraska Press.