Degrees of Elevation: Short Stories of Contemporary Appalachia (Appalachian Writing Series)

16 stories of Appalachia today by some of our top writers. This collection brings us into the present with its struggles and beauty. Human character remains strong in these stories of life in Appalachia. Writers include: Rusty Barnes, Sheldon Lee Compton, Jarrid Deaton, Richard Hague, Silas House, Chris Holbrook, Denton Loving, Mindy Beth Miller, John McManus, Jim Nichols, Valerie Nieman, Chris Offutt, Mark Powell, Ron Rash, Alex Taylor, Crystal Wilkinson "Degrees of Elevation provides a variety of characters portrayed in their deepest and most exposed moments. You aren't likely to forget their stories. White and Seay have done us all a favor by gathering these remarkable stories together. White writes, "We do not believe any one view of Appalachia is a Truth entire. But somewhere in the patchwork, we have tried to present the hard beauty of the land and the history of a unique country and its people." They have succeeded. Degrees of Elevation is a wonderful collection that deserves to be read, savored, and remembered."- From New York Journal Book Review Hard, brilliant, and dark as coal, this brand new and necessary volume captures Appalachia today, a place where the old bedrock verities of family, community, belief, work, and the earth intself are all in painful "Upheaval"--to use the title of Chris Holbrook's story herein. From manic to elegiac to rough, raw, beautiful, and heartbreaking, these sotries will strike the reader as both absolutely true and as unforgettable, like the high pure ring of an ax on a cold winter morning, vibating across distance, hanging in the air long afterword.--Lee Smith, author of The Last Girls--Cover Fiction. "Hard, brilliant, and dark as coal, this brand new and necessary volume captures Appalachia today, a place where the old bedrock verities of family, community, belief, work, and the earth itself are all in painful "Upheaval" to use the title of Chris Holbrook's story herein. From manic to elegiac to rough, raw, beautiful, and heartbreaking, these stories will strike the reader as both absolutely true and as unforgettable, like the high pure ring of an ax on a cold winter morning, vibrating across distance, hanging in the air long afterward" Lee Smith."