by Ben Fountain
First published 2014
Twenty-six writers contribute stories that examine the spaces where people feel most vulnerable and most alive. The collection moves from a city that has fallen completely silent to a nineteenth-century ship facing destruction. In the woods, a startling birth unfolds. An archaeologist meets burial in a bog. A drowned trader carries a loop of hair in his locket. Soldiers find meaning in the ritual of pointy boots during wartime. These stories span geographical and emotional boundaries. Contributors include established voices like Steve Almond, Rick Bass, Edith Pearlman, Ron Rash, Bill Roorbach, and Brad Watson alongside emerging talents Lauren Groff, Ben Stroud, and Kevin Wilson. The anthology draws from Ecotone magazine's first decade, during which more than twenty of its stories earned recognition in Best American, New Stories from the South, Pushcart, and PEN/O. Henry collections. Each story captures fundamental human desires through concrete situations and vivid settings.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: concrete-situations, found-family
Period: 19th-Century, 20th-Century, 21st-Century
412 pages · Paperback · Lookout Books