Last Stands: Stories

Description

In a distinguished career that has yielded four novels, ten story collections, and a volume of poetry, Gordon Weaver has maintained a distinctive literary voice that, despite its always recognizable presence, never fails to surprise longtime readers of his work. His best stories somehow manage to be witty and deadly serious at the same time.Last Stands presents people at crucial moments in their lives, the moments in which ultimate challenges are confronted, ultimate questions are asked, and definitive judgments are made. Weaver’s characters may flounder, and fail, but they are redeemed by their courage and their honesty.A hired assassin ponders his self-worth, a bartender takes his only chance for worldly success, a man buries his mother, another talks with the dead, yet another attends his high school reunion determined on vindication, and a war-weary Vietnam vet finds a place he can call home. These are stories that do not shun the darker side of Weaver’s characters, but seek the illumination of the insights needed to make their lives meaningful, if only to themselves. Contents......Page 10 Looking for the Lost Eden......Page 14 A Dialogue......Page 34 The White Elephant......Page 44 Dirt......Page 66 Psychic Friends......Page 73 The Emancipation of Hoytie Rademacher......Page 92 And What Should I Do in Illyria?......Page 109 Elder’s Revenge......Page 128 Learst’s Last Stand......Page 150