The Big Hunger

Published here for the first time, this text presents a collection of recently-discovered stories by John Fante.

The volume spans nearly three decades of work, gathering seventeen uncollected short stories alongside the original prologue to Ask the Dust. Fante charts the collisions of immigrant households across Colorado and California.

These narratives follow hungry young writers in downtown Los Angeles, bricklayers sparring over home-brewed claret, and cannery hands in San Pedro dance halls...