Overview

Welcome to this fictional version of Darlington, South Carolina--a town full of characters who are rough, down-on-their-luck, and beautifully flawed. This fictional town provides a backdrop for the tragedies and comedies of life to unfold. If you linger in these stories for awhile and belly-up at the Paradise Lounge, the local watering hole, you'll meet Vapor, a man without a face, Coach, a washed-up former high school football coach who becomes a hero of sorts, and Pete Humps and his best friend, Russ, who are both hopelessly in love with the same fiery woman. These connected stories blur time and narrative to construct complicated characters that challenge stereotypical conceptions of the rural working-class. In the end, what emerges are the tales of the depth of human joy and suffering.

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9781942956624

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Phillip Gardner, an award-winning writer, has published four other short story collections, and his stories have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. He grew up learning to love music and reading. For most of his life music has been his hobby and short fiction his love. While many of his stories are set in a fictional Darlington, South Carolina, and circulate around the Paradise Lounge, he resists the Grit-Lit-regional-writer label. His stories cross social classes, genders and genres, and range from the ridiculous and funny to the poignant and sublime. Gardner is professor emeritus at Francis Marion University where he taught for thirty years. He lives with his lovely wife Tressa in Darlington.

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