Bliss and Other Short Stories

Winner of the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction, this daring collection of nine stories introduces readers to an edgy vision and a world in which certainties are tested and found wanting. A Cambodian refugee negotiates the icy waters of American social and sexual life. A young couple seeks "peak experiences" to escape grief, only to discover that they've brought it along with them. A teenage girl, unable to face the imminent end of her grandfather's life, risks her own life in an impulsive act. A man's fragile hold on reality becomes the key to his finding, albeit through a terrifying labyrinth, his heart's desire. The characters in Bliss and Other Short Stories must find their way to a truth that, though less than perfect, is one they can live with. Finding bliss, it seems, is as much about pain as about pleasure, and in Ted Gilley's writing the discovery is always exquisite.

Author: Ted Gilley
Publisher: Bison
Published: 09/01/2010
Pages: 136
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.44lbs
Size: 8.48h x 5.56w x 0.41d
ISBN: 9780803232617

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 07/26/2010
Library Journal 08/01/2010 pg. 76

About the Author
Ted Gilley is a freelance writer and editor. His short fiction and poetry have appeared in such publications as New England Review, Northwest Review, Prairie Schooner, and many other magazines and anthologies.