Hoaxes and Other Stories

A small-time celebrity keeps dying. A Bigfoot hunter and his grandson give presentations on the elusive beast. A disgruntled office drone reaches his breaking point and quits, in the middle of a zip-line trust fall.

The characters populating Brian DiNuzzo's debut short story collection may be eccentrics, but at their core they are struggling to get through life, dealing with unmanageable bosses and tedious jobs, and trying to maintain their interpersonal and romantic relationships. These are people seeking to improve their circumstances, people striving for utopia but willing to accept much less. Frustrated and weary, downtrodden and misguided, they still hold out for the dim light of hope.

DiNuzzo navigates ordinary settings-Southern California, South Philadelphia, suburban and city streets, office buildings, derelict apartment complexes, the public library, the airport, the shopping mall-with quirky characters and odd situations. These stories ask us to wonder how falsehoods pervade private life. Through his twelve distinct tales, DiNuzzo asks: What's real? What's fake? Does it matter?

Author: Brian Dinuzzo
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Published: 04/26/2022
Pages: 168
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.45lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.40w x 0.50d
ISBN: 9780299334741

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 01/17/2022

About the Author
Brian DiNuzzo is a writer and educator based in Allentown, NJ. His short stories have won several awards and have appeared in The Lindenwood Review, Qwerty, Echo Ink Review, and other publications.