Shocker in Gloomtown - by Dan Libman (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

From Joe Bonomo, author of Field Recordings from the Inside: "In dry, dark, very funny stories shot through with poignance and compassion, Libman's outwardly polite folk navigate everyday disappointments, always on the brink, surprised by the possibilities of human inadequacies. Shocker in Gloomtown is the real thing."

Review Quotes

"Quick, funny, touching, serious, sometimes surreal, with a distinctive colloquial voice."

-Stephen Dixon, National Book Award nominee

"Libman is equally dexterous rendering a fictional work in realism or fabulism, and likewise adroit in blurring the two seamlessly together, with the understated ironic perspective of a Coen Brothers film."

-Cris Mazza, author of Various Men Who Knew Us as Girls

"Playful, inventive, and funny, Shocker in Gloomtown will crack you up and crack open a new line of sight into the absurdities of the human condition."

-Joseph O'Malley, author of Great Escapes from Detroit

"Libman is the first great, darkly comic explorer of Rockford, Illinois. In his fictional Rockford, word play and comic gestures are the spiritual currency of the day. And I'm so grateful he's made it so."

-Chris Fink, editor of Beloit Fiction Journal

"Realism that's weightless, surrealism that's grounding, and a world of experience in between."

-Aaron Sitze, author of The Andrew Jackson Stories