**A searing debut short story collection set in north Texas, rooted in the rich tradition of Southern short fiction by Breece D’J Pancake and Flannery O’Connor. The celebrated journalist’s 10 short stories are as vivid and character-driven as his reportage from the battlefronts of the Middle East . . .** Loosely inspired by the 1996 heroin epidemic in the grittier suburbs of Dallas, this gripping collection of short stories — many published previously in leading literary journals — are intimate, honest, and character-driven, and don't shy away from difficult themes. From protagonists struggling with the effects of alcoholism and unemployment, to neo-Nazi skinheads in Dallas, to conspiracy theories, these various colorful characters are depicted with clear-eyed compassion, as well as moments of resilience and even humor, as they work their way to a transcendence of their current, very American, very Texan, situation.