Last Call: Stories
In this tenth anniversary edition of K. L. Cook's debut collection, the linked stories of Last Call span three generations in the life of one West Texas family. Events both tender and tragic lead to a strange and lovely vision of a world stitched together in tenuous ways as the characters struggle to make sense of their lives amid the shifting boundaries of marriage, family, class, and culture.

A series of unusual incidents-a daughter's elopement, a sobering holiday trip, a vicious attack by the family dog, a lightning strike-provokes a mother of five to abandon her children. An oil rigger, inspired by sun-induced hallucinations, rescues his estranged wife, who doesn't appreciate his chivalry. In the wake of his father's and brother's deaths, a teenage boy finds precarious solace working with his mother at a country-western bar. A woman fleeing her fourth marriage arrives at a complicated understanding of love and responsibility.

Cook's stories-suggesting unlikely connections between comedy and pathos, cruelty and generosity-promise a hard-won dignity and hope.

K. L. Cook is the author of two other award-winning books of fiction, The Girl from Charnelle and Love Songs for the Quarantined. He teaches creative writing and literature at Prescott College and teaches in the MFA writing program at Spalding University.
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Last Call: Stories
In this tenth anniversary edition of K. L. Cook's debut collection, the linked stories of Last Call span three generations in the life of one West Texas family. Events both tender and tragic lead to a strange and lovely vision of a world stitched together in tenuous ways as the characters struggle to make sense of their lives amid the shifting boundaries of marriage, family, class, and culture.

A series of unusual incidents-a daughter's elopement, a sobering holiday trip, a vicious attack by the family dog, a lightning strike-provokes a mother of five to abandon her children. An oil rigger, inspired by sun-induced hallucinations, rescues his estranged wife, who doesn't appreciate his chivalry. In the wake of his father's and brother's deaths, a teenage boy finds precarious solace working with his mother at a country-western bar. A woman fleeing her fourth marriage arrives at a complicated understanding of love and responsibility.

Cook's stories-suggesting unlikely connections between comedy and pathos, cruelty and generosity-promise a hard-won dignity and hope.

K. L. Cook is the author of two other award-winning books of fiction, The Girl from Charnelle and Love Songs for the Quarantined. He teaches creative writing and literature at Prescott College and teaches in the MFA writing program at Spalding University.
19.95 In Stock
Last Call: Stories

Last Call: Stories

by K. L. Cook
Last Call: Stories

Last Call: Stories

by K. L. Cook

Paperback(Reprint)

$19.95 
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Overview

In this tenth anniversary edition of K. L. Cook's debut collection, the linked stories of Last Call span three generations in the life of one West Texas family. Events both tender and tragic lead to a strange and lovely vision of a world stitched together in tenuous ways as the characters struggle to make sense of their lives amid the shifting boundaries of marriage, family, class, and culture.

A series of unusual incidents-a daughter's elopement, a sobering holiday trip, a vicious attack by the family dog, a lightning strike-provokes a mother of five to abandon her children. An oil rigger, inspired by sun-induced hallucinations, rescues his estranged wife, who doesn't appreciate his chivalry. In the wake of his father's and brother's deaths, a teenage boy finds precarious solace working with his mother at a country-western bar. A woman fleeing her fourth marriage arrives at a complicated understanding of love and responsibility.

Cook's stories-suggesting unlikely connections between comedy and pathos, cruelty and generosity-promise a hard-won dignity and hope.

K. L. Cook is the author of two other award-winning books of fiction, The Girl from Charnelle and Love Songs for the Quarantined. He teaches creative writing and literature at Prescott College and teaches in the MFA writing program at Spalding University.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780803271715
Publisher: UNP - Bison Books
Publication date: 10/01/2013
Series: The Raz/Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 270
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

K. L. Cook is the author of two other award-winning books of fiction, The Girl from Charnelle and Love Songs for the Quarantined. He teaches creative writing and literature at Prescott College and teaches in the MFA writing program at Spalding University.

Table of Contents


Acknowledgments
I Nature's Way
     - Easter Weekend
     - Nature's Way
     - Gone
     - Thrumming
II Last Call
     - Texas Moon
     - Last Call
     - Knock Down, Drag Out
III Pool Boy
     - Costa Rica
     - Breaking Glass
     - Marty
     - Pool Boy
IV Penance
     - Penance

What People are Saying About This

Ron Carlson


"K. L. Cook starts with the pungent inventory of country western songs but lights it all, even his honky-tonks, fried food, downed trees, sick dogs, and rain, with a new understanding of men and women. These are rich stories by an exciting new voice."—Ron Carlson, author of A Kind of Flying

Robert Boswell


“The stories in Last Call are so entertaining it seems almost unfair that they also resonate powerfully long after you’ve put down the book. K. L. Cook has whopping gifts, and this is a splendid book.”—Robert Boswell, author of Century’s Son
 

Jean Thompson


“The stories in Last Call are about fractured families, lovers and losers (often one and the same), and coming of age the hard way. Cook writes with ease and naturalness and a wonderful, sorrowful knowledge of human foibles.”—Jean Thompson, author of Who Do You Love and City Boy
 

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