First published 2010
This anthology gathers twenty-one contemporary authors to examine modern working life through fiction. The collection spans America's economic transformation, from the decline of manufacturing to today's shift toward knowledge-based work. Writers like Bonnie Jo Campbell, Daniel Orozco, and Matthew Salesses contribute stories that range from traditional narratives to experimental forms. Some pieces look backward at the end of industrial labor, while others peer forward into speculative futures where technology reshapes every aspect of human culture. The authors represent diverse voices and approaches, unified by their focus on how people navigate contemporary employment. These stories capture workers caught between economic eras, revealing the personal costs and unexpected discoveries that emerge when old certainties about labor disappear.
Genres: fiction, short-stories, anthologies, american-fiction, contemporary, 21st-century
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: diverse-voices, found-family
Setting: America
Period: Decline of Manufacturing, Knowledge-Based Work
188 pages · Paperback · Bottom Dog Press