States of Grace (Stories)

The bestselling author “offers up lean, deftly composed short-shorts that seem effortless but inflict a surprising amount of mayhem considering their size” (Brian Evenson, O. Henry Award–winning author).

Like a gut punch, like a lightning strike, nearly seventy pieces of flash fiction in this expanded edition—featuring twenty previously uncollected tales, including ten original stories—from Stephen Graham Jones showcase the visceral bite of his prose and scope of his vision. From bungee jumpers to truck drivers, from childhood memories to orgies, these are vignettes of the extraordinary moments that make up ordinary days.

In “Animals I’ve Known,” a golden retriever surrenders to the sensory pleasure of his waterfowl prey. A father ignores years of warning signs leading up to a tragic day at the beach in “Seafood,” while a burger joint serves up a heaping portion of nostalgia on a man’s lunch hour in “Solemn Burger.” A moment of connection opens up a future of terrifyingly endless possibility in “The Sadness of Two People Meeting in a Bar,” and in “When I’m Alone I Count Myself,” a man has to live by a strict set of rules to keep his fragile world from crumbling around him.

States of Grace is “a lightning-fast read, and yet each piece feels as fleshed-out and dense as a novel, with SGJ often spanning decades and a wide range of emotions in no time flat” (LitReactor).