THE BOOK: It Turns Out Like This.
PUBLISHED IN: 2016.
THE AUTHOR: Stephen Coyne.
THE EDITOR: Alan Davis.
THE PUBLISHER: New Rivers Press.
SUMMARY: Stu longs for the family he lost in the battle between rich men and poor men. He tries to develop a hard heart about the new life his ex-wife and daughter have found, but memories keep his pain fresh. When a desperate young mother asks Stu to help her escape from her abusive husband, Stu begins a voyage up-river that takes him back in time and also leads him to a future.
THE BACK STORY: Coming of age poor in the Vietnam War era, Stu is inspired to inaction. He drifts with the tide, he allows himself to be used by a pretty but pregnant girl in high school, and his bosses diminish him daily. But Stu find still places in the confusion and disrespect where he is able to make sense of some things and humor of the rest.
WHY THIS TITLE: This novel is built of short stories. Therefore, it keeps turning out and turning out. It’s like life that way.
WHY SOMEONE WOULD WANT TO READ IT: If you like to find clarity, redemption, and humor in the litterfall life, this book suits. Think of it as A Confederacy of Dunces meets Hillbilly Elegy.
REVIEW COMMENTS: “Old ‘water hermit” Stu, barely adrift in a world of two-bit marinas, bad choices, and hard times, holds this loosely linked ‘novel in stories’ together, and what fine stories they are! Tough, heartbreaking, unforgettable, necessary. Chances are pretty good that you have not met anybody like these desperate characters before, and you haven’t read anything like this collection, either. — Lee Smith, author of On Agate Hill and The Last Girls.
AUTHOR PROFILE: Coyne has been publishing stories since 1989. It Turns Out Like This is his first book-length work. Long a professor of English at Morningside College, he is now retired.
AUTHOR COMMENTS: Let me know what you think.
SAMPLE CHAPTER: See the preview option on Amazon.
LOCAL OUTLETS: Barnes and Nobel, Book People, Morningside College bookstore.
WHERE ELSE TO BUY IT: Amazon, Barnes and Noble.
PRICE: $2.54 hardcopy, $6.99 Kindle.
CONTACT THE AUTHOR: sbccoyne@gmail.com
Snowflakes in a Blizzard 