In his award-winning debut collection of short stories, John W. MacIlroy delights in teasing the moment when everything changes for his characters, with the reader suddenly and deeply understanding that many of the most important things that happen to us come from the everyday--only to slide sideways to the deeper end of our experience, and even our imagination. The collection reprises the anecdotal traditions of many of the storied writers of the early twentieth century--like Hemmingway, Sherwood Anderson, and Virginia Wolff--where an observation, an image, or a realization supplies the narrative resolution


Recognized as one of four collections in "The 25 Greatest Short Stories of All Time" (Forbes Magazine, June 1, 2024), this Second Edition now adds a new Foreword, additional stories, and a Conversation with the Author. These offer key interventions in the broader discussions of Southern fiction and the short form for the casual reader as well as the classroom, creative-writing 5 workshop, and book club.