Keynote
A blistering collection of stories from an exhilarating new voice
Book Title
Volt
Subtitle
Stories
Cover Image
- “[Heathcock] carves characters from the grains of the earth. Alan is the next Cormac McCarthy.”—Frank Bill, GQ, Best Books of 2011
Body
One man kills another after neither will move his pickup truck from the road. A female sheriff in a flooded town attempts to cover up a murder. When a farmer harvesting a field accidentally runs over his son, his grief sets him off walking, mile after mile. A band of teens bent on destruction runs amok in a deserted town at night. As these men and women lash out at the inscrutable churn of the world around them, they find a grim measure of peace in their solitude.
Throughout Volt, Alan Heathcock’s stark realism is leavened by a lyric energy that matches the brutality of the surface. And as you move through the wind-lashed landscape of these stories, faint signs of hope appear underfoot. In Volt, the work of a writer who’s hell-bent on wrenching out whatever beauty this savage world has to offer, Heathcock’s tales of lives set afire light up the sky like signal flares touched off in a moment of desperation.
Throughout Volt, Alan Heathcock’s stark realism is leavened by a lyric energy that matches the brutality of the surface. And as you move through the wind-lashed landscape of these stories, faint signs of hope appear underfoot. In Volt, the work of a writer who’s hell-bent on wrenching out whatever beauty this savage world has to offer, Heathcock’s tales of lives set afire light up the sky like signal flares touched off in a moment of desperation.
List Price
$15.00
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About the Author
Credit: R. Heathcock
Praise
- “Heathcock displays a generosity of spirit that only those writers who love their characters can summon, and Volt is galvanizing proof of his talent.”—The New York Times Book Review
- “Shocking, illuminating, and unforgettable. . . . There’s nothing easy about trying to distill tragedy and pain into the space of one story. In Volt, Heathcock does it eight times.”—NPR.org
- “[A] bejeweled collection. . . . I haven’t been this enthusiastic about a book of stories in a while.”—Bookslut
- “Misery is in plentiful supply in these dark, thickly atmospheric tales of spiritual desolation and savagery. Fans of William Gay and Daniel Woodrell will savor these stories where sin and suffering shroud the hope of redemption.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
