Bright Shards Of Someplace Else

"Monica McFawn’s first collection of short stories, winner of this year’s Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, displays her idiosyncratic voice, her flair for distinctive characters and her empathetic power. In these 11 stories, McFawn ranges from fantastic to satiric to poignant. Embedded in her tales of ordinary people — a new employee forced to fire an incompetent co-worker; an actor on his way home after a performance full of improvisations; a mathematical theoretician working for a company that sells butterflies to be released at weddings and other events — are carefully observed human details and momentous surprises."