Getting Even and Other Stories

The work of prize-winning author Gary V. Powell, characterized by its gritty realism, has been compared to that of Raymond Carver and Richard Ford. Getting Even and Other Stories, a short story and flash fiction collection of mostly previously-published work, reveals Powell at the top of his game. Part 1, City with a Heart, is set in small-town, blue-collar America, home to brutal layoffs, hard-nosed brush-ups, and vengeful take-downs. It's the kind of place where bad boys run free, the kind of car a man drives matters more than it should, and the local sheriff has to choose between which laws to enforce and which to ignore.The stories in Part II, Sons and Daughters of the Plain, are set against a broader Midwestern landscape, from the Upper Peninsula to Des Moines with stops in Chicago, Omaha, Kansas City and Milwaukee along the way, and feature characters in transition-a divorced father struggling to remain connected with his young daughters, a middle-manager attempting to survive one more dinner party with his toxic boss, a couple desperately in-love and running from past entanglements, a free-wheeling lawyer facing indictment, a foursome, or maybe a threesome, of male friends sorting out their troubled relationships with the opposite sex, and a young man trying to put his drunk-driving arrest in perspective. Part III, Southland, set in the New South of Charlotte, New Orleans, Charleston, and places in between, explores the consequences of life's transitions-divorcing and re-marrying, dealing with an unintended pregnancy, immigrating to a new place, and adjusting to peace after going to war. Getting Even and Other Stories is a glimpse of America behind the headlines of tribal politics, a sideways glance into the hearts and minds of ordinary folks coming to grips with the messiness of modern life. With nods to Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio and Donald Ray Pollock's Knockemstiff, Powell's Getting Even and Other Stories is ripe with taut prose, unforgettable characters, and dark humor. Readers seeking stories of redemption, love gone wrong, and revenge have come to the right place.