April 24th, 2002

If you'd read all of the best literary magazines in the past year or so, you'd have no reason at all to buy Kevin Brockmeier's new book Things That Fall From the Sky. You'd have read all of the stories already. Brockmeier has quietly taken the short story genre by storm and nabbed up all the best honors: The Italo Calvino Award, the O'Henry Award, the Nelson Algren Award, etc., etc. Enough book-biz hype though... how's the writing? Phenomenal! He's confident and inventive and refreshingly difficult to compare to the work of other writers. One of my favorite pieces is called "Ceiling" and tells the story of a town being overshadowed by a large slowly descending object. Life goes on in the meantime: business is done, marriages sputter and falter, children struggle with youth. The ceiling becomes more and more meaningful, both physically and metaphorically. Another story is "Apples," a story of young love and fateful timing. Brockmeier, a native of Little Rock, is destined to be a great new voice in fiction.

There will be a reception and signing at 5 p.m. The reading will begin at 5:30.

If you'll be unable to attend but would like a signed or inscribed copy, please contact us.