Gifford, Barry

New York. 2002. Seven Stories Press. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket. 158322470x. 251 pages. hardcover. Jacket art - detail from an original painting by Michael Neff. Signed by the Author. keywords: Literature America . FROM THE PUBLISHER - AMERICAN FALLS is the first major collection of short stories from Barry Gifford, master chronicler of the dark and restless American psyche. These stories range widely in style and period, from the 1950s to the present, from absurdist exercises to romantic tales, from stories about childhood innocence to novellas of murder and revenge. In the title story set in Idaho in the ‘60s, a Japanese-American motel operator harbors a black man wanted for murder. ‘The Big Love of Cherry Layne' describes a love affair between a ten-year-old and his eighteen-year-old babysitter. In ‘Room 584, The Starr Hotel,' a man rants his outrage at an amorous couple in the room next door. ‘The Unspoken' recounts the confessions of a man without a mouth. In ‘A Fair Price,' a television celebrity must pay a ransom for the return of his stolen car. In this collection's longest fiction, a novella called ‘The Lonely and the Lost,' a small town's talented and colorful inhabitants solve their problems as best they can until it comes time for the devil to reap what they have sown. And in ‘The Winner,' a young boy's embarrassment over winning too many prizes at another boy's birthday pulls him out of his childhood into the adult world. Dark and light intermix in masterful chiaroscuro. No simple endings, only happy beginnings. inventory #31764 ISBN: 158322470x.