Sometimes Only the Sad Songs Will Do

In this new collection of short fiction, David Denny gives voice to troubled characters caught in spiritual snares: a mass shooter dreams of angels and astronauts while awaiting capture, a young hotel clerk attempts to teach the rock star trashing his hotel suite a lesson in humility, an elderly couple surrender their lives to an approaching wildfire. As Paris Review editor Christian Kiefer says, "Denny's stories read like a catalog of earthly woes through which run a surprising thread of wonderment and grace." Reminiscent of the American blues tradition, these dozen lyrical laments remind us that even in an age of moral panic, climate disaster, pandemic, and political corruption, the world’s fading beauty still has the power to astound us and drop us to our knees in broken praise.