Prepare to be amused, moved, disturbed. These stories by a master of idiosyncrasy visit a world where wit has heft, charm has shadow, and human beings act out all the complicated nuances of love.In the title story, a young man waiting in the Hotel Eden discovers—as others have—that Eden is not a permanent domicile. In "Zanduce at Second," a baseball player turned killer-by-accident undergoes a surprising transformation. We root for escaped felon Ray ("A Note on the...

"These stories are full of surprises, jolts, and lightning strikes of recognition. Do yourself a favor and read Ron Carlson." —Stephen KingRon Carlson's stories, sometimes wicked or bittersweet, often zany, are rich with a hard-earned hopefulness frequently absent in contemporary fiction. In this generous gathering from collections no longer available, longtime fans and new readers alike can savor the development of a master of idiosyncrasy.Properly celebra...

“ [A] moving novel about friendship, forgiveness, and mortality.” —Nancy Pearl, NPR’s Morning EditionRon Carlson has always been a critics’ favorite, but Return to Oakpine shows the acclaimed writer at his finest. In this tender and nostalgic portrait of western American life, Carlson tells the story of four middle-aged friends who once played in a band while growing up together in small-town Wyoming. One of them, Jimmy Brand, left for New York Ci...

" We lean closer and closer, eager to catch every last word." said The New York Times Book Review. " Bigger, richer, funnier, and more complex than any description of them can convey," said the San Francisco Chronicle. " Some of the funniest and saddest stories ever to cozy up together," said the Los Angeles Times. Welcome to the short stories of Ron Carlson, where strange beach towels turn up in your living room; where the ordinary so...

"The Signal accelerates like an avalanche...If men can't be brought back to fiction by books as fine as this one, it's their own damn fault."-The Washington PostRon Carlson, author of the critically acclaimed Five Skies, is an award-winning writer beloved by booksellers, reviewers, and readers alike. His most thrilling book to date, The Signal follows the story of Mack and Vonnie, a married couple who, after ten years toge...

Beloved story writer Ron Carlson's first novel in thirty years, Five Skies is the story of three men gathered high in the Rocky Mountains for a construction project that is to last the summer. Having participated in a spectacular betrayal in Los Angeles, the giant, silent Arthur Key drifts into work as a carpenter in southern Idaho. Here he is hired, along with the shiftless and charming Ronnie Panelli, to build a stunt ramp beside a cavernous void. The two will be led by Darwin Gallegos, ...

These stories come at us from every direction. They are Ron Carlson's response to the eighties, the stories we will want by our sides as the decade ends.Whether it is a husband trying to bring his marriage back together or Bigfoot finally coming forward, Carlson's characters speak with radical honesty that is disarming. They are the men and women all around us who open the refrigerator at two in the morning and see the faces of missing children on the milk carton. ...

In The News of the World, Ron Carlson's celebrated last collection, it was widely noted that the news was good. Here, as everybody goes to Plan B, the news is stronger, edgy, and bittersweet.Here are men and women in the middle--of life, of relationships. There is a difference between what they set out for and what they get. A single mother keeps house on an aircraft carrier. A new father finds himself seduced by a motorcycle. A lonely professor is forced ...

“Ron Carlson’s novel is in the coming-of-age tradition, with the contemporary attributes of humor and cool. . . . I liked Larry for his unpretentiousness, his wry, caring angle on experience.” —New York TimesIn this tender, comic novel, Larry Boosinger—graduate student, writer, garage attendant, escaped convict (and perhaps a person)—has one foot in late adolescence while he searches frantically for a place to put the other. Beset by illusions, attracted b...

“If you can read this one without getting a lump in your throat, turn yourself in to the nearest mortuary. Your heart has ceased to function. This book is about the innate hunger of the human heart to belong. To be part of a family unit whether or not there are blood ties. It’s about the refusal of the American adult to be bothered with those young enough or old enough to be a nuisance. And it’s about the most touching book I’ve read in many a moon.” —Carolyn Vaughter, Houston ...

Ron Carlson is a widely respected author whose accolades include a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and a Ploughshares Cohen Prize. Return to Oakpine spins a story of growing up and growing old as four high school friends and former bandmates reconnect 30 years after graduating. When they learn that one of them is dying, it feels like getting the band back together might be the most important thing they can do.

Well known for his short stories, critically acclaimed author Ron Carlson has been featured in the New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, Esquire, and Best American Short Stories. Carlson has also won a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Fiction, a National Society of Arts and Letters Literature Award, and the 1993 Ploughshares Cohen Prize. Here he captivates audiences with a compelling novel no listener will soon forget.