Wounded Boarders - by George Singleton (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Witty and surprising, George Singleton's latest short fiction collection welcomes both new and longtime readers with his signature offbeat humor, perfect for fans of George Saunders and Jill McCorkle

A seasoned house flipper befriends a club of hook-handed, shuffleboard-playing war veterans to deter a potential stalker. A couple in a middle-of-nowhere ghost town quells their boredom by luring would-be robbers to their house. A former yearbook photographer enacts revenge upon the students who got him fired. And a fallen-from-grace comedian pays a visit to the hypnotist looking to curb his less-desirable habits, then finds the treatment a bit too effective for his liking.

Crafted with Singleton's distinctive mix of satire and charm, the stories in Wounded Boarders take readers from binocular-clad boyhood to the inbox of an adjunct professor and a host of others at the end of their rope. Undeniably Southern in nature, these stories capture the absurdity of the mundane, offering a glimpse into the routines and recollections of imperfect people whose lives are stranger than fiction.

Review Quotes

"From the well-known Southern humorist, another fun house gallery of small-town misfits at the ends of their tethers. As the nation's, and the region's, politics get ever more divided and mean, Singleton's satire grows darker and sharper. Yet what makes it work, as always, is an essential sweetness and decency...A Southern comic master in top form."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Without a doubt one of the very finest storytellers out there. . . . George Singleton is one of the funniest writers out there, and also one of the wisest."--Jill McCorkle, author of July 7 and Life after Life

"Please know that it is against my nature to fling the word 'genius' around like a sandlot football. I've used it maybe five times, and in all of those instances I applied it to composers, partly because I don't understand how they do what they do. Being a fiction writer, I understand all too well how we do what we do. But George Singleton is a genius, because he repeatedly manages to make me laugh, often uproariously, when my first impulse is to cry. How he accomplishes this feat is as mysterious to me as the twelve-tone music of, say, Arnold Schoenberg. But I know this: contemporary American literature--and I daresay the country itself--would be more vibrant if we had more writers like him. George Singleton is something perhaps even rarer than a genius. He's a treasure." --Steve Yarbrough, author of Stay Gone Days

"Singleton is a raconteur of trends, countertrends, obsessions and odd characters."--Morning Edition, NPR

"[The] unchallenged king of the comic Southern short story."--Atlanta Journal Constitution

"Singleton is an ace at locating the pathos beneath the deadpan laughs." --USA Today

"Legendary South Carolina absurdist Singleton weighs in with another rollicking collection. ... A Southern original adds to his gallery of Southern originals." --Kirkus starred review

"Singleton delivers an offbeat collection filled with Southern eccentrics. ... Singleton lights up the colorful and odd situations with wit and verve. Southern fiction fans will have a blast." --Publishers Weekly

"A delightful, occasionally disturbing and unapologetically honest exploration of Southern life ... There's a beautiful brokenness driving these characters toward their distinctive causes that's born from the most basic of compulsions -- the human need to belong." --Atlanta Journal-Constitution

About the Author

George Singleton has published ten collections of stories, two novels, a book of writing advice, and a collection of essays. Over 250 of his stories have appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, Esquire, Story, One Story, Playboy, and elsewhere. Non-fiction in Garden and Gun, Oxford American, Best Food Writing, and elsewhere. He's received a Pushcart Prize, and a Guggenheim fellowship. His collection The Curious Lives of Nonprofit Martyrs was named a Top 100 Book of 2023 by Kirkus Reviews. A member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, he lives in Spartanburg, South Carolina.