Set amidst the tatters of post-Katrina Gulf Coast Mississippi, Waveland is a brilliantly observed portrait of our times from one of the most incisive novelists at work today.Partially retired architect Vaughn Williams does what he can to remain "viable." Battling the doldrums of midlife, he teaches an occasional class, reads the newspapers, scours the Internet, and thinks obsessively about his late father. When his ex-wife seeks refuge from her hotheaded boyfriend, Vaughn ...

Frederick Barthelme is a minimalist writer whose stories are anything but minimal. Labeled as “Dirty” or “Kmart” Realism, his work illustrates the immense feeling contained within the minute and seemingly uneventful details of ordinary life. From parking lots to grocery stores, and swimming pools to morning traffic, whatever space Barthelme’s characters occupy there is an underlying tension that rises out from the mundane. In his post-ironic dialog and deadpan descriptions...

A fiftyish graphic designer forced into retirement discovers, via a parade of unlikely events, that it may still be a lovely day in the neighborhood, by "the master of the low-key epiphany." (The New Yorker).Wallace Webster lives alone in Kemah, Texas at Forgetful Bay, a condo development where residents are passing away at an alarming rate. As he monitors events in the neighborhood, Wallace keeps in touch with his ex-wife, his grown daughter, a former cow...

"An exquisitely crafted memoir" by two brothers who lost their parents, lost their inheritance—and almost lost their freedom ( The Wall Street Journal).Frederick Barthelme and his brother Steven were both accomplished, respected writers with stable adult lives when they lost both of their parents in rapid succession. They had already lost their other brother, just a few years earlier. Suddenly they were on their own, emotionally unmoored—and unprepared for ...

Sun Deluxe by Frederick Barthelme brings together a decades-arcing blend of old favorites and new and unpublished work, offering a vivid image of everyday life tinged with subtle absurdity, longing, and grace.Known for his minimalist style and sharp emotional insight, Barthelme captures the subtle tensions and fleeting connections that define contemporary life, and readers will find themselves immersed in his world of condos, truck-stop diners, and characters caught in the...

A studio executive leaves his family and travels the world giving free reign to the bipolar disorder he's been forced to hide for 20 years."Juliann Garey writes with stark, lucid power about the tumbling journey into madness and the agonizing climb back out."--Brian Yorkey, book and lyrics for Next to NormalIn her tour-de-force first novel, Juliann Garey takes us inside the restless mind, ravaged heart, and anguished soul ...

An engaging, often hilarious coming-of-age novel of uncertainty and discovery oozing with early 90s nostalgia."Funny and unpredictable...(Charles) proves impressively adept at capturing the inchoate ache of adolescent longing."— Washington PostIt's 1992, and America is caught in the grip of major Angst. In Washington, D.C., George H. W. Bush is rattling the mother of all sabres at Saddam Hussein. In Seattle, Curt Kobain is h...

In TOO LATE, 15-year-old Greg is in a teen sex offenders’ facility because of an assault on his stepsister. He hates the professionals who try to help him and can’t wait to go home. When he enters a room for a meeting, his mother is there crying. Her partner, whom Greg calls Step Dude, sits at her side. They have come to tell Greg they don’t want him back. It’s too late to be good, they say. Greg comes to the crippling realization of what he has become: the father he has both hated and fea...

WIN, LOSE, OR DIE.Whether it's child's play or for the highest stakes, whether we stick to the rules or cheat, we all play games — for fun, for thrills, for love or money, to prove we're the best or make an opponent knuckle under. And the games we play, with cards or dice or nothing but our wits, reveal something deeply personal about the players.In this powerful new anthology, Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Lawrence Block has assembled an all-star ...

James Fitzroy isn't doing so well. Though his old friends in Buffalo believe his life in New York City is a success, in fact he writes ridiculous taglines for a greeting card company. Now he's coming home on Thanksgiving to visit his aging father and dying mother, and unlike other holidays, he's not sure how this one is going to end. Buffalo Lockjaw introduces a fresh new voice in American fiction.

In stories both absurd and all-too-real, Christopher Evans paints a portrait of the uncanniness of modern life.The president of a holistic dog food company is haunted by a pop song from her past. Nine siblings band together to raise themselves after parental abandonment. A domestic argument reveals a woman’s supernatural gift. A failing musician finds his calling soundtracking another man’s life.Christopher Evans's stories are people with strays — those who...

Love & Profanity features more than forty brief, brilliant, and unforgettable true stories from writers both renowned and on the rise. The special edition e-book also includes the winner and five finalists from the "Tell Your True Story" contest, sponsored by Switch Press and Wattpad, the world's largest community of readers and writers. In these stories you will discover strange and surprising scenes of people coming of age amidst the everyday intensity of teenage life. You will witness t...