|
|
McBREARTY'S DEBUT COLLECTION COMBINES HUMOR AND COMPASSION TO CELEBRATE MOMENTS OF CHANGE "The title tale is dandy. It captures the desperation of a 40-year-old man working a second job as night desk clerk at the Y. Between his dealings with demanding, cantankerous customers, her reminisces about his single moment of glory." --Kirkus Reviews. A Night at the Y is the debut collection of a fine talent with a great balance between hilarity and empathy for the human condition. These twelve stories, all previously published in distinguished literary magazines, appear to be about real-life situations, except that the reality has been turned up a notch. Or skewed. In any case, in the process of exaggeration, these people and situations have become, in a sense, all the more real. In one story a mother and brother arrive at a new-age spa to rescue a man who's either found or lost his sanity, and in the process they all (including an oily guru) reinterpret the slippery lessons of life. In a mock comic western, a reformed drinking, whoring, foulmouthed horsethief/bank robber rediscovers his true identity. In many of the stories the struggle is between two sides of a man--the conscientious husband or father who takes care of business versus the heroic hellraiser who ran with the bulls in Mexico. These stories are wild, funny, touching, full of crackling dialogue and major-league issues like the difficulty of holding onto jobs, love, life, and sanity. They're about people in the moment of change. The settings range all over the map, from urban to rural, from Texas to California; but wherever these stories are set, real people live there, out loud. Robert Garner McBrearty was raised in San Antonio, Texas, and now lives in Louisville, Colorado. He has worked as a newspaper columnist, an English teacher, a dishwasher, a mental hospital attendant, a hot dog salesman, an assembly line worker, and a ski-lift attendant. He presently puts in time as a writing teacher, a Tai Chi instructor, and a househusband; but he is primarily a writer. His stories have appeared in numerous magazines, including the Missouri Review, Mississippi Review, and New England Review. |
 |
For ordering information, click
here or phone (800) 662-8351 or |