At long last, a collection of short stories from acclaimed West Virginia author Scott McClanahan. These thirty-three stories, pulled primarily from his early, now out-of-print collections, are snapshots from growing up in a small, rural Appalachian town. These works of autofiction are written in McClanahan's incantatory, unpasteurized, and disarmingly tender voice that spins everyday experiences like kidney stones and stocking produce at the local supermarket, into something far more profound by transcending hyperlocal settings to reveal rare, bewitching, and genuine connections from author to reader.
These thirty-three stories' backdrop centers on southern West Virginia, from where McClanahan hails, and contain what McClanahan simply witnessed, what he experienced personally, and then, finally, an acute awareness of the surroundings he finds himself facing in his hometown. McClanahan's experiences of southern West Virginia allow these stories to transform from words on pages to something that feels as though they transcend hyperlocal settings to reveal rare, bewitching, and genuine connections from author to reader. The Paris Review describes the prose as "both comic and unpretentiously sentimental," while The New York Times hails it "miasmic, dizzying, repetitive. A rushing river of words that reflects the chaos and humanity of the place from which he hails."
Gleaned from McClanahan's previous books Stories, Stories II, and Stories IV!, this collection of stories also debuts two new stories in print for the first time.
McClanahan's earlier volumes received heaps of praise The Paris Review described the stories from McClanahan's earlier volumes as "both comic and unpretentiously sentimental," and The New York Times Book Review hailed it as "miasmic, dizzying, repetitive. A rushing river of words that reflects the chaos and humanity of the place from which he hails."
This cloth edition includes sixteen original color illustrations by fellow Appalachian artist, Chris DeMaria and a foreword by award-winning short story writer Ashleigh Bryant Phillips.
