About the book:
The new and selected stories in this collection, written over a period of thirty years, are firmly entrenched in the culture and people of rust belt cities and rural Appalachia.
These stories are often set against large, significant events like the Cold War, Vietnam, and the Kent State shootings, but are always uniquely local. A mother fends off the police by brandishing copperhead snakes. A woman cares for the dog of an alleged double murderer. A husband who has lost his job works at trying to save his wife from a debilitating phobia.
This extensive collection by Gary Fincke, an accomplished poet and writer of fiction, gives rise to ordinary people living lives made fascinating by attention to the particulars of voice, place, and character. With precise language, surprising imagery, and sharp, evocative dialog, these stories deepen beyond the oddities of their characters, who are scarred and defeated by circumstance and choice, but also attain moments of grace, compassion, and generosity of the spirit.
About the author:
Author of the just-published The Out-of- Sorts: New and Selected Stories and Winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction and the Ohio StateUniversity/The Journal Poetry Prize, Gary Fincke has published thirty-one books of poetry, short fiction, and nonfiction, most recently, Bringing Back the Bones: New and Selected Poems, A Room of Rain: Stories, and The Killer’s Dog: Stories. Within the past year he has won three national book prizes, one in each of the genres of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.
His stories have appeared in such periodicals as The Missouri Review, Newsday, The Kenyon Review, Black Warrior Review, and CrazyHorse. He has been twice awarded Pushcart Prizes for his work, recognized by Best American Stories and the O. Henry Prize series, and cited fifteen times in the past eighteen years for a
"Notable Essay" in Best American Essays. He has just retired as the Charles Degenstein Professor of English and Creative Writing at Susquehanna University.
