Barringer's third fiction collection includes 15 stories, a seven-page intro by Steve Almond, author of My Life in Heavy Metal, and cover art and 8 illustrations by Eduardo Recife. Stories are thematically linked, as suggested by the title. We Were Ugly So We Made Beautiful Things . . . out of Wood, out of Pigs, out of Stairs, out of Somersaults, out of Brass, out of Magic, etc. The stories explore, with gentle humor and intelligence, the desires to create, build, salvage, and improve. Several stories are loosely connected by the same character, a young boy growing up who, in one story, imagines he can fly above the staircase and does, with fearsome results. In another story, he creates worlds in his basement from the junk accumulated by his unhappy parents. As a fourth-grader, he helps a geeky kid overcome his isolation and fear on the soccer field. And, finally, as a young man, he interviews for a job that promises what it cant deliver, and he confronts his own future, his own dreams, in a single moment. Barringer weaves a bit of autobiographical material into several of these pieces, but his focus remains art, language, and the beautifugly human comedy.

We Were Ugly So We Made Beautiful Things

David Barringer

Word Riot Press

Johnny Red is an epic and tragicomic love story, a modern picaresque novel about the adventures of Johnny and Ruth as they are imprisoned, survive their imprisonment, escape to the open road, make their way across America, and try to make something of their lives. Oh, and Johnny is a Rock Red rooster; Ruth, a Leghorn hen.

Johnny Red

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Fantasy

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Books by David Barringer

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by David Barringer. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

We Were Ugly So We Made Beautiful Things

Johnny Red