As readers across America know by now, North Carolina has produced a remarkable number of talented fiction writers in recent years. This anthology collects twenty-five short stories, all published within the past decade and a half, by some of the best of those writers. This Is Where We Live showcases a rising generation of North Carolina authors whose work reflects the fast-changing realities of the state's landscape, culture, and people. Their roots may be southern, but their words will resonate with anyone anywhere who appreciates first-rate fiction. A broad and balanced collection, This Is Where We Live offers something for everyone. Though the stories range widely in setting, character, tone, and even form--from ""short shorts"" to novellas--they are united by the skill with which they are written. In short, the book offers powerful confirmation that North Carolina's literary culture continues to flourish. The contributors are Ellyn Bache, Sarah Dessen, Tony Earley, Candace Flynt, Philip Gerard, Marianne Gingher, Tom Hawkins, John Holman, John Kessel, Peter Makuck, Melissa Malouf, Heather Ross Miller, Ruth Moose, Lawrence Naumoff, Jennifer Offill, Michael Parker, P. B. Parris, Dale Ray Phillips, Joe Ashby Porter, Ron Rash, June Spence, Peter Turchi, Daniel Wallace, Luke Whisnant, and Marly Youmans. Their work has appeared regularly in such publications as the Atlantic Monthly , Harper's , and the Oxford American . |As readers across America know by now, North Carolina has produced a remarkable number of talented fiction writers in recent years. This anthology collects twenty-five short stories, all published within the past decade and a half, by some of the best of those writers.
About the Author :
Michael McFee teaches creative writing and North Carolina literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Author of five books of poetry, he is also editor of The Language They Speak Is Things to Eat: Poems by Fifteen Contemporary North Carolina Poets.
Review :
"[An] . . . extraordinarily diverse collection of stories. . . . Celebrations of the rich literary talent that hails from North Carolina." -- Spectator
"[McFee] has put together an anthology that boldly explores a broad range of experiences and makes even the most exotic vividly familiar. These stories entertain without yielding to nostalgia; they wrestle with the exigencies of today and offer hope for community within rapidly shifting social and literal geographies. Take these twenty-five writers as a measure of the current literary vitality in the Old North State, and expect the Carolina renaissance to have a vibrant future." -- Southern Cultures
"During the past one hundred years North Carolina has probably had more great writers per capita than any other state. Reading This Is Where We Live makes it clear this distinguished tradition will continue into the next century." -- Robert Morgan, author of Gap Creek: A Novel
"Hats off to Michael McFee for pulling together this wonderful collection of North Carolina writers, their voices and subjects as rich and varied as the different regions of the state. It is a celebration of a grand literary tradition, and will be a treasured volume for many generations to come." -- Jill McCorkle, author of Final Vinyl Days and Other Stories
"McFee has a nice ear for language as well as an eye for story." -- Virginia Quarterly Review
"Picking up where The Rough Road Home left off, This Is Where We Live testifies in a multiplicity of voices and fictional styles to the astonishing vitality and breadth of the North Carolina literary scene. This is well-written and well-chosen fiction, organized by Michael McFee into a collection that creates a lively dialogue among stories and readers." -- Lee Zacharias, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
"These stories, delivered in various local voices are about . . . love, loss, family, death, adultery, initiation, change. . . . McFee's North Carolina anthology expresses . . . the distinct accents of a region." -- Raleigh News & Observer
"What a fine collection Michael McFee has gotten together! These stories are as varied and complicated and beautiful as North Carolina itself. Settle down with this collection in some shady nook or on an empty beach -- you'll find yourself in very good company. This Is Where We Live is a cause for celebration. The New South has given us some wonderful new writing." -- Lee Smith, author of Black Mountain Breakdown
