<p>A 2004 PEN/Malamud Award winner, this collection celebrates the work of American artist Richard Bausch -- a writer the <em>New York Times</em> calls "a master of the short story." By turns tender, raw, heartbreaking, and riotously funny, the many voices of this definitive forty-two-story collection (seven of which appear here for the first time) defy expectation, attest to Bausch's remarkable range and versatility, and affirm his place alongside such acclaimed story writers as John Cheever, Flannery O'Connor, Raymond Carver, and Grace Paley.</p>