A Common Person and Other Stories (Richard Sullivan Prize in Short Fiction)

Literature & Fiction

Kinder, R. M.

Literary

University of Notre Dame Press

These prizewinning stories champion the everyday person who tries to do his or her best in demanding and even demeaning situations. The stories in A Common Person and Other Stories, R. M. Kinder's third short-story collection and the winner of the Richard Sullivan Prize in Short Fiction, expose the disruption in our modern life and the ever-present threat of violence, and, most importantly, they capture the real heroism of everyday people. The characters in these stories, most set deep in the middle of America, seem to invite trouble through their concern for others: a neighbor's mistreated dog, a boy standing up to a bully, a woman who faces cancer and the loss of love. Kinder's characters struggle with conflicts common to us all--to treat humans and animals with compassion, to open minds and hearts to diversity, all while balancing the welfare of the individual and the larger community. The characters aren't always loveable, but they have their moments of grace--they accept responsibility and take stands. These stories, by turns humorous, unsettling, and utterly believable, expose the dangers of ordinary life as their characters perform acts of defiance, determination, and connection. The memorable characters in A Common Person and Other Stories are, like us, doing the best they can, and that is often remarkable and admirable. Considered closely, Kinder shows us, no person is common.

"[Kinder] writes with the x-ray vision of a Sherwood Anderson, and with the insight of a Freudian analyst, an interpreter of dreams, in language that could be as well suited to the traditional folktale or the hometown newspaper as to poetry of the French surrealists. Here is a collection of short fiction for our times: a mirror held up to the homely details, reflecting back to us the wild insides."---Laura Kasischke, MLFA judge"I read A Near-Perfect Gift from start to end without stopping, and, when I finished, found myself sitting in my darkened office, infused with an unexpected sense of peace."---Eileen Pollack, MLFA judgeThe stories in A Near-Perfect Gift revolve around the often hardscrabble small-town life in one rural village. Like any other community inhabited by the human race, it's a place where the banal and the improbable coalesce, a place with its share of common tragedies and uncommon madmen: some howl at the moon, while others turn out to be heroes. There are the two old ladies down the street who might be witches and must be exorcised, and the man who plucks chickens for a living. It is within the perimeter of this offbeat microcosm of the world that seemingly small questions---often the kind that children ask, arising from a child's imagined understanding of how the adult world works---assume an eerie portent: Was that a snake beneath the woodpile? Could a pregnant bat climb out of a hole in the ground? The answers never cease to surprise.

A Near-Perfect Gift (Michigan Literary Fiction Awards)

University of Michigan Press

Music is the heartbeat of this novel about the world of hometown musicians--the jamming venues, the contests, the onstage cues, the subtle rules. The story focuses on four musicians: Carl Bradshaw, an aging Oklahoma fiddler; Amy Chandler, a young dumpling who can outpick most guitarists; Jack Martin, who lives in the shadow of a successful father; and Cora, an older woman on the edge of a world she believes can't be hers. The novel's structure reflects the sets of a performance on stage, with smaller sections that serve to introduce the musicians. Song titles, phrases, and sounds are part of the language, as are the characters' styles in speaking about music, creating it, and performing it. With its winning evocation of the joy of playing together, The Universe Playing Strings will remind readers of the movies Once and Crazy Heart.

The Universe Playing Strings: A Novel

University of New Mexico Press

Sweet Angel Band and Other Stories

United States

Helicon Nine Editions

An undersized white farm kitten flees a mountain lion and nearly starves before meeting Josh, Wilma, and their family of dogs, Lucky and Speeds. Zeno's extraordinary perspective and personality highlights the beauty of the everyday struggles and conquests we take for granted, as well as the value of the families we choose and how we treat them. He meets bully cat Arthur, loses a true friend, experiences the joy and struggles of changing family relationships and the call of the wild. Through a lifetime of love, loss, and adventure, Zeno is truly a cat for all seasons.

A Cat for All Seasons: You never know what you need until he finds you.

Genre Fiction

Liquid Amber Publishing

Ghost House

An intriguing debut novel based on the author's own relationship with a convicted murderer chronicles the life and times of Arthur Blume, a charming, small-town college English professor and sometime murderer, as he sets out to inscribe his memoirs and to reveal the monster that lurks beneath the pleasant façade of normality. Original.

An Absolute Gentleman: A Novel

Self-Help

Creativity

Catapult

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Books by Kinder, R. M.