Sam's Place: Stories

by Bob Mustin

Step inside Sam's and you can play a game of eight ball, nurse a beer, or get to know a wayward preacher, a reformed hooker, an Iraq vet amputee - or Sam himself. You may watch a baby being born, see a deadly knife fight, or simply hear tall tales. But there's always a rough-hewn truth within the lies, and Sam's there to manage everything from birth to death with a righteous cant. All things considered, it isn't a bad world. Sam's Place is a collection of interwoven short stories that revolve around a local watering hole in the Alabama town of Striven. Pull up a chair and get to know the locals in this powerful and entertaining world that is Sam's Place.

244 pages, Paperback

First published March 24, 2013

About the author

I've had a brief naval career and a longer one as a civil engineer in Georgia. During the early '90s, I was the editor of a small literary journal, The Rural Sophisticate, based in Georgia. In 2003, I was a North Carolina Writers Network writer-in-residence at Peace College under the late Doris Betts' guiding hand. My work has appeared in The Rockhurst Review, Elysian Fields Quarterly, Cooweescoowee, Under The Sun, Gihon River Review, Reflections Literary Journal, and at thesquaretable.com, raving dove, Sport Literate, The Externalist, Language and Culture, and R.KV.R.Y in electronic form. I also have two novels and one novella to my credit. A collection of connected short stories will be published late in 2012 or early 2013.

Reviews

[Rebecca Elswick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sam's Place, a book of connected short stories, is filled with a cast of bucolic characters who are all connected to the local pool hall - Sam's Place. Here, life is played out amid the pool playing, drinking, fighting, laughing and crying that takes place in the Alabama town of Striven. Anything can happen in this backwoods town and often does, such as brothers willing to "knife fight" to the death over who gets the best part of a deer carcass.

The stories are filled with emotion, coming from the characters who are as real as your own relatives. You know the ones - the ones you don't want to claim as kin! At the heart of the book is Sam himself, master of his "place." Sam has the last word on what happens in his world. So enter Sam's Place at your own risk because while you're there, anything can happen!

[Lyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you cross the threshold into Sam's Place, you soon discover that all fall short, all sin's the same, and everyone survives best they can. Regulars like Wilson and Noxanne, Donnie and Luann, Archie and Slim are part of a ragtag clan shepherded by the steady Sam, finding despite themselves a little joy and respite in this bar's safe haven. Bob Mustin's savory prose gets inside you, hearty and nourishing, and full of truth that no matter how wayward, the human heart tends toward right and always wants a home.