Jane Sperling has returned to her Texas hometown after her divorce, her daughter Claire in tow. She wants to make a turnaround, but things aren't going as she hoped.

From acclaimed author Craig Lancaster, a two-time High Plains Book Award winner, comes a story of family violence, dysfunction, and, perhaps, redemption, told across four timelines.More than a decade into the 21st century, Nate Ray is down and in the final throes before he's out for good. He has burned through jobs and the goodwill of others, including his son, Brandon. When Nate's dad, Ronnie, summons him for a trip from Texas to Montana to bury Ronnie's sister, Nate's se...

A middle-aged man, an ancient dog, and a new Mustang. A search for sustenance in a battered America.Carson McCullough has given his career to a singular pursuit—putting out a small daily newspaper that keeps his employees engaged and his hometown informed. But as time and technology conspire against him, Carson’s Argus-Dispatch is shuttered by an owner with a different view of its future. Stung by the abrupt end of his career and burdened by regret and grudges, Carson and his one t...

Mitch Quillen’s marriage and career are failing, and his relationship with his father has been a disaster for decades. Approaching forty, Mitch doesn’t want to become a middle-aged statistic. When his estranged father, Jim, suddenly calls, Mitch’s wife urges him to respond. Mitch heads to Montana and a confrontation that will alter the course of his life. Amid a backdrop of rugged peaks and valleys, the story unfolds: violence that triggered the rift, thirty years of miscommunication, and ...

Max Wendt has a family . . . but it's sliding sideways, and he has been complicit in its faltering. His wife and his daughter have pulled away from him amid his frequent absences, leaving him to bridge the distance between what he remembers and the way things are now.Max Wendt has a job . . . but it carries him away from home most of the time, and its dynamics are quickly changing. There's a surprising new hire on his pipeline crew, strife among coworkers, and a boss whose proclivi...

A thirty-nine-year-old with Asperger’s syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder, Edward Stanton lives alone on a rigid schedule in the Montana town where he grew up. His carefully constructed routine includes tracking his most common waking time (7:38 a.m.), refusing to start his therapy sessions even a minute before the appointed hour (10:00 a.m.), and watching one episode of the 1960s cop show Dragnet each night (10:00 p.m.).But when a single mother and her nine-year-o...

From the bestselling author of 600 Hours of Edward comes the story of two small-town characters whose fates are inextricably linked.Hugo Hunter, a would-be boxing champion, is thirty-seven, soft around the middle, and broke—his glory days long gone. Raised by his beloved grandmother, he is rough around the edges but has a kind heart. Watching Hugo ringside for nearly twenty years, sportswriter Mark Westerly has struggled to keep a professional distance while he’s served al...

In the sweltering heat of a Montana July, the small town of Grandview readies for its annual Jamboree. The event is meant to celebrate community, but this year tensions boil over, threatening to tear the town, and a family, apart.Sam Kelvig, a third-generation resident, will do just about anything to protect Grandview from the influx of new oil money and the strangers chasing it. Meanwhile, his restless wife, Patricia, wearies of the constraints of marriage to a man who is so tied ...

It’s been a year of upheaval for Edward Stanton, a forty-two-year-old with Asperger’s syndrome. He’s lost his job. His trusted therapist has retired. His best friends have moved away. And even his nightly ritual of watching Dragnet reruns has been disrupted. All of this change has left Edward, who lives his life on a rigid schedule, completely flummoxed.But when his friend Donna calls with news that her son Kyle is in trouble, Edward leaves his comfort zone in Billings, Mo...

In The Angelic Mother and the Predatory Seductress, Ashley Craig Lancaster examines how converging political and cultural movements helped to create dualistic images of southern poor white female characters in Depression-era literature. While other studies address the familial and labor issues that challenged female literary characters during the 1930s, Lancaster focuses on how the evolving eugenics movement reinforced the dichotomy of altruistic maternal figures and destructive sexual dev...

HOW WILL YOU REMEMBER THE PANDEMIC?40 authors from around the world set out to record their innermost feelings-- to offer inspiring, heartfelt, creative takes on the Covid-19 pandemic. Crime fiction, elegant and angry poetry, and gut-wrenching personal essays: all paint a picture of the year and help us make sense of the sacrifices we've made in 2020.Thank you for your generous support: all profits donated to charity.A brainchild of editor Lise McClendon, the anthol...