They Hover Over Us

by Richard Fellinger

Winner of the 2011 Serena McDonald Kennedy Fiction Award. This collection of 13 short stories about people from Pennsylvania's Rust Belt is out now from Snake Nation Press. Also available on Kindle, Nook and other e-readers.

124 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Richard Fellinger is an award-winning author, a college writing instructor, and former journalist. His novel An American Girl (Serving House Books, 2025) won the inaugural Thomas E. Kennedy Novel Award. His novel, Summer of ’85 (TouchPoint Press, 2021), was a finalist for the American Fiction Award, a distinguished favorite for the NYC Big Book Award, and winner of the Seven Hills Review Novel Excerpt Contest. He is also the author of the story collection They Hover Over Us (Snake Nation Press, 2012), winner of the Serena McDonald Kennedy Award, and the novel Made To Break Your Heart (Open Books, 2017). His fiction has also earned a Pushcart Prize nomination and won the Flash Fiction Contest at Red Cedar Review. His work has also appeared in Newsweek, Epiphany, Potomac Review, and PANK, among others. He teaches writing at Elizabethtown College and Drexel University and lives with his wife in Harrisburg, Pa.

Reviews

[Gale Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richard Fellinger’s short story collection THEY HOVER OVER US is filled with real people—Western Pennsylvania folks, mostly--who are earnest and flawed, who bear the scars of the hard decline of steel industry and at the same time, the heavy burden of having once lived in boomtowns.

His unflinchingly honest prose reveals a cavalcade of characters from cheating husbands pretending to be dead, coupling cousins, pathetic fakers who struggle to be regarded as useful and competent, and misanthropic lawyers who secretly sneer at women trying to hide the dark hair on their upper lips.

His facility as a storyteller allows you to enter into a range of characters’ heads via tales that are alternately wryly humorous, ponderous, and sometimes outright hilarious while his commentary on the socioeconomic ravages to the region hovers over the reader like the still smokestacks of so many depressed mill towns. And when you reach the last page, you’ll feel something close to devastation to have finished the last story in this exquisitely crafted collection

[Kevin Hirth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is like a collection of related fragments that are interwoven enough to work together rather than a collection of unrelated stories, so it feels more like a novel. That said, while the subject matter can be dreary, the characters mostly roll with their punches in a realistic way that makes for fun experience. Fellinger's writing is direct and flows nicely. Throughout the journey I found myself at times horrified and others laughing out loud(on the bus, no less). The characters are endearing and easy to identify with, doing what they can to survive the bumps of filling societal roles in cities past their prime. Sometimes it feels like I am reading stories from a post-apocalyptic world but am quickly reminded that the events are likely happening down the street. The title describing the ominous and decaying cityscapes towering over these people makes them seem helpless and desperate, spinning around in the maze while you're stuck right there with them. Highly enjoyable and I look forward to Fellinger's next work(s). Also, his dad painted the cover, which I love.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find in this series of stories, the whole gamet of human emotions. The stories aren't about heroes and they aren't fake. They are about real people with real problems and emotions. There are characters stuck in ruts, or characters who realize they've made a mistake too late. There is real feeling in these stories. I feel that Richard Fellinger captured part of the human condition in these books. We are flawed and we make mistakes. This was a very good read. If you take the time, it will move you.

[Tracie · Rating 5 out of 5]

They Hover Over Us was an awesome collection of short stories. The characters in each story were unique and well developed. I was so thrilled when a few of them returned in a later story. Many of the stories made me wish they wouldn't end. I highly recommend this book of short stories. It's a perfect summer book.

[Solomon Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great work by former colleague Richard Fellinger. As always, the consummate professional. So glad to see this published!

[Csimplot Simplot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book!!!