TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT
Her eyes, her mouth, her fingers: were these the parts that told the story or were these the parts that were the story? Tomorrow could bring another three words from her, further clues scribbled in the margins of her life. There could be days or weeks. Nobody ever said months.
In this bold collection of fifteen short stories, acclaimed author David James Parr explores the act of storytelling itself through a robust set of characters discovering the surprising depth of humanity in the smallest of moments.
In VOIR DIRE a horror movie actress serving jury duty after a traumatic break-in recounts a tale of real-life terror; an aspiring Superman atones for past mistakes in WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER DO COCAINE BY JOHN PATRICK; a man is forced to defend his actions after an unfortunate episode of speed dating in SPECIAL ORDER 937; two competitive former classmates find themselves decades after high school in the same creative writing class in PAT PULLS THE COVERS OVER RYAN'S HEAD; a sensitive teenage boy reconciles the departure of his drug-addicted father and his own tentative future in THE SHORT END OF THE STICK; a troubled wife's bizarre revenge plot in a small town involves deceptively delicious TROJAN CAKES; and a group of emotionally wounded strangers find comfort and solace discussing EPIGRAMS in a dog park at twilight.