Come By Here

by Tom Noyes

His third collection, Noyes writes a novella and stories, focused on how humans interact and destroy the earth.

Genres: Short Stories

152 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Tom Noyes's newest book is The Substance of Things Hoped For: A Novel (Slant, 2021). He has also published three collections of short fiction: Come by Here: A Novella and Stories (Autumn House, 2014), Spooky Action at a Distance and Other Stories (Dufour, 2008), and Behold Faith and Other Stories (Dufour, 2003). He directs the BFA in Creative Writing Program at Penn State Behrend in Erie, PA, where he also serves as Consulting Editor for the literary journal Lake Effect.

Reviews

[Andrew Shutes-David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m convinced that Tom Noyes can inhabit the skin of almost anyone. His characters—a fish poacher, a reality TV show host, a softball coach—are vastly different yet all authentically realized. But the short story format can be a frustrating space for these characters, as their personalities and traumas seem to demand the space of a novel.

[HMoore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. The phrase that kept going through my mind was "just good stories"--no gimmicks.

The collection reminded me of Jane Smiley's The Age of Grief, as the novella is spectacular, but so are the stories you read on the way to it.