A cast of memorable characters and bracing throwdowns emerge in this new collection of stories about haunted memories, deep down secrets, burning grief, carnival conmen, and the loner at the end of the dorm hall.
from What The Men Saw: “He could not count how many holes he had been down in his day; how many 200 lb covers, each as heavy as a millstone he had lifted off and leaned against the yellow protection cage they raised at every site. How many rats had he seen running below in sewage containments, some the size of cats, or how many syringes had he found dropped to the bottom. He had seen it all…”
from otherwise: “Before bed, Hooper continued unpacking when he heard movement in the hall, loud footsteps followed by unknown voices, a woman’s and a young mans, talking above a whisper. There were thuds and scrapes which sounded like they were moving something up. Hooper stepped outside to see who it was, but they were in the room already. Then the young man came out and saw Hooper standing there…”
from Strongman: The proprietor of the auction was a man named Wilson Wingate, a gaunt, fast-talking geezer who was known in town as a charlatan and hustler. Beside the auctions he owned a dollar store called the ‘Trot Stop’. On the sign of the store was a turkey, out of whose beak blurted the tagline ‘Gobble up the savings!’
from The View From Pier End: "When you sit down at low tide, you can look down and see the silty bottom of the river beneath your toes. The water’s only a foot deep and it looks to be that shallow all around—to your left, to your right, behind you—way, way out even, as if the whole river were a single, sleek puddle meant for splashing..."
from Night Fever: "Michael put his head to the man’s chest and his hands fell to the lawn, clenching the grass. He shut his eyes hard to dam the tears, to dam the fury of his thoughts, but he could not hold them back. He sobbed into his friend’s shirt, shaking with weakness. When he had stopped, he opened his eyes, blurry, rubbed them dry, and braced his hands on the ground to stand, hitting the kid’s shoe instead, who had been standing there..."
Genre: General Fiction
from What The Men Saw: “He could not count how many holes he had been down in his day; how many 200 lb covers, each as heavy as a millstone he had lifted off and leaned against the yellow protection cage they raised at every site. How many rats had he seen running below in sewage containments, some the size of cats, or how many syringes had he found dropped to the bottom. He had seen it all…”
from otherwise: “Before bed, Hooper continued unpacking when he heard movement in the hall, loud footsteps followed by unknown voices, a woman’s and a young mans, talking above a whisper. There were thuds and scrapes which sounded like they were moving something up. Hooper stepped outside to see who it was, but they were in the room already. Then the young man came out and saw Hooper standing there…”
from Strongman: The proprietor of the auction was a man named Wilson Wingate, a gaunt, fast-talking geezer who was known in town as a charlatan and hustler. Beside the auctions he owned a dollar store called the ‘Trot Stop’. On the sign of the store was a turkey, out of whose beak blurted the tagline ‘Gobble up the savings!’
from The View From Pier End: "When you sit down at low tide, you can look down and see the silty bottom of the river beneath your toes. The water’s only a foot deep and it looks to be that shallow all around—to your left, to your right, behind you—way, way out even, as if the whole river were a single, sleek puddle meant for splashing..."
from Night Fever: "Michael put his head to the man’s chest and his hands fell to the lawn, clenching the grass. He shut his eyes hard to dam the tears, to dam the fury of his thoughts, but he could not hold them back. He sobbed into his friend’s shirt, shaking with weakness. When he had stopped, he opened his eyes, blurry, rubbed them dry, and braced his hands on the ground to stand, hitting the kid’s shoe instead, who had been standing there..."
Genre: General Fiction
Used availability for Matthew Balleza's What The Men Saw