The Way Things Always Happen Here: Eight Short Stories and a Novella

by Kevin C. Stewart

In his debut short-fiction collection,THE WAY THINGS ALWAYS HAPPEN HERE, Kevin Stewart takes his readers to the scene of a heinous murder, to the home of an alcoholic single mother, to the 1960s election campaign of JFK through West Virginia, and off the side of the New River Gorge Bridge. In these eight stories set in fictional Oak County in southern West Virginia, and one novella set in the Arkansas Ozarks, Stewart gives us characters who all love and hate where they're from. In "One Mississippi," two teenage boys test their friendship and face their deepest fears. The eponymous "The Way Things Always Happen Here" is a wrenching tale of two teenage lovers coming of age in a place that can t hold both of them. "Debts" pits an artistic son who has chosen basket weaving as a profession against the wishes of his father, a miner and UMWA member. The startling "June Hay" picks up again the father/son conflict. The novella "Margot" has been described as a juxtaposed tale of romance and violence . . . worthy of James Dickey (New Delta Review). Tom Franklin, author of POACHERS and A NOVEL, called Margot a "heartbreaking and contemporary western of epic proportions."

160 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2007

About the author

Kevin Stewart, a Princeton, West Virginia, native, won the Texas Review Novella Prize for “Margot,” as well as numerous other awards. He holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Arkansas, along with degrees in English, architecture, and civil engineering. Stewart is an assistant professor of English and creative writing at Carroll College in Helena, Montana.

Reviews

[Joey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a strong collection of stories told in lean, muscular prose. That's pretty bad blurb-speak, but I really can't find a better way to describe Kevin Stewart's writing. It's spare without being too sparse, and moving without being self-consciously lyrical. That prose style fits the subject matter of these stories, most of which examine characters struggling to free themselves from being trapped in various ways, very well.

All of the stories here are solid, and the best of them--the title story, "June Hay"--are some of the most memorable I've read recently. Then there's "Red Dog" set amid the corruption surrounding JFK's campaign visits to West Virgina, featuring the best white-knuckle car chase I've ever read.

[Erica Olson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I reviewed this collection of short stories for another online site and won't go into as much detail here. Stewart is a gifted writer who doesn't look away from the gritty hardships experienced by his protagonists. The book has an autobiographical feel, meaning (for me) that I easily believed the situations and responses of the characters. There were a very few passages that didn't feel quite as polished as the rest of the book--but I was carried along by the stories. Of note is that Stewart handled his use of imagery really beautifully, particularly in "one mississippi."