From the critically acclaimed author of the best-selling Ryan DeMarco Mystery series comes this collection of crime novellas and stories, Randall Silvis's first collection since his The Luckiest Man in the World was awarded the 1984 Drue Heinz Literature Prize by Joyce Carol Oates.These six short stories and the title novella-a Ryan DeMarco series prequel-brilliantly showcase the author's compelling storytelling coupled with the deep characterization and exquisite prose for which he is known. Murderers, grifters, and other unsavory characters people these stories, but so too do those struggling to make the world a kinder and less dangerous place.Praised by the New York Times Book Review as "a masterful storyteller," Silvis once again demonstrates that he can write short fiction as hypnotic as his novels, and with a distinctive and versatile voice that marks him as one of the best writers at work today. Randall Silvis is the multi-genre author of 20 critically acclaimed novels, story collections and a book of creative nonfiction named a Best of the Year book by the Toronto Globe & Mail. He was the first Pennsylvanian to win the prestigious Drue Heinz Literature Prize (1984), and was chosen for that award by author Joyce Carol Oates. His work has been published in more than 100 editions in several languages.Also a prize-winning playwright and produced screenwriter, Randall's work has appeared on Best of the Year lists from the New York Times, the Toronto Globe & Mail, SfSite.com, Strand magazine and the International Association of Crime Writers, and has been hailed as "masterful" not only by the New York Times Book Review but also by Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Mystery Scene magazine, and several other review sources. His two novels from 2017 (Two Days Gone and Only the Rain) were Amazon #1 Bestsellers in Psychological Suspense.Silvis has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize for his short fiction and was a two-time Hammett Prize finalist for literary excellence in the field of crime writing (for An Occasional Hell and Two Days Gone.) The recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowships, a Fulbright Senior Scholar Research Award and six writing fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts for his fiction, drama and screenwriting, he received a Distinguished Alumni Award from Clarion University of Pennsylvania in 1988, and in 2001 received the same honor from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. In 2007 IUP bestowed upon him an honorary Doctor of Letters degree for "a sustained record of distinguished literary achievement."
