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Romance for Delinquents
In stories that bring to mind Breece D'J Pancake and Harry Crews, but in a voice all their own, Michael Wayne Hampton's characters fight the hard fight—often facing a life and landscape as stubborn and unforgiving as a rusted engine bolt. Told in voices that are remarkable for their authenticity, Hampton's people are memorable, his prose is lapidary in its precision, and his stories are hard to forget.
Rob Roberge, author of The Cost of Living
"Michael Wayne Hampton is a born storyteller. And that doesn't just mean he can spin a good yarn, the kind that keeps you ear-stuck and tongue-tied, listening hard. He also has the storyteller's art of absolute authenticity, fidelity to hard-knocked voices - while writing prose that lifts and transcends, that fiercely proclaims that through the ugly, all of us are living some kind of beautiful.”
Amber Sparks, author of May We Shed These Human Bodies
"These are bold, insistent stories of people dancing along the edges of epiphany and oblivion. Hampton’s America is ragged, dangerous, and utterly engaging."
Ian Stansel, author of Everybody’s Irish
Rob Roberge, author of The Cost of Living
"Michael Wayne Hampton is a born storyteller. And that doesn't just mean he can spin a good yarn, the kind that keeps you ear-stuck and tongue-tied, listening hard. He also has the storyteller's art of absolute authenticity, fidelity to hard-knocked voices - while writing prose that lifts and transcends, that fiercely proclaims that through the ugly, all of us are living some kind of beautiful.”
Amber Sparks, author of May We Shed These Human Bodies
"These are bold, insistent stories of people dancing along the edges of epiphany and oblivion. Hampton’s America is ragged, dangerous, and utterly engaging."
Ian Stansel, author of Everybody’s Irish
- GenresShort Stories
212 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
77 people want to read
About the author
Michael Wayne Hampton
7 books16 followersMichael Wayne Hampton is the author of six books. His criticism, essays, fiction, and poetry have appeared in numerous publications such as The Southeast Review, Fiction Southeast, and Rust+Moth. His work has won an Individual Excellence Award from the OAC and been nominated for Best American Short Stories. His writing has also been named a finalist or semi-finalist for other awards such as the Iowa Short Fiction Prize and The World's Best Short Story Contest.
Michael can be reached via his homepage at michaelwaynehampton.com or on Twitter @motelheartache
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 6, 2015
Read 1/7/14 - 1/9/14
4 Stars - Strongly recommended to fans of shorties full of oddball, yet utterly familiar characters
212 Pages
Publisher: Fox Head Books
Releases: January 2014
Love is for suckers. Or at least it sometimes feels that way, don't it? We've all fallen for the new, naive love that births a billion butterflies in our chest. But what about when it becomes an angry and unreciprocated love, the kind that forces those fluttery little creatures down, one by one, into your stomach, where they churn and dissolve in your acidic emotions? Or how about the curious, borderline obsessive love that clouds our senses and causes us to act in strange and sometimes dangerous ways. Watch out that it doesn't turn into a jealous love, one that, as we begin to rage and howl, darkens those clouds and blinds our vision.
In Michael Wayne Hampton's Romance for Delinquents, we are judge, jury, and witness to love in all of its extremes: A photography student who double prints nudie photos at the film shop for his scrapbook; a series of couples who deal with infertility in their own, unique ways; the guy who reluctantly takes his old lady's kids to the local carnival and manages to pull it together long enough for them to collectively make a run for it when all hell breaks loose; an overweight, under-motivated amusement park employee who constructs a fantasy world around his soon-to-be-Russian-mail-order-bride; a middle aged man who falls in love, sight unseen, with a 15 year old high school radio jockey and grows balls big enough to start writing her fan letters....
These are people you may have already met. They stand in line around you in the grocery store. They smile at your kids from across the street. They rub elbows with you at the company party.
Hampton's characters are all poised on the edge of something... through his words we can feel their every breath, sense their muscles tense and release... and we watch and wait... for their final plunge...
Romance for Delinquents is a sharp, severe look at a moment in the lives of strangers - quick peeks and longer glimpses that hang with you for some time after the stories are over.
I plan on picking up some more of Hampton's work in the very near future, and I recommend you do the same.
Anyway, how can you turn away from its totally hip cover? That alone should be all the enticement you need!
4 Stars - Strongly recommended to fans of shorties full of oddball, yet utterly familiar characters
212 Pages
Publisher: Fox Head Books
Releases: January 2014
Love is for suckers. Or at least it sometimes feels that way, don't it? We've all fallen for the new, naive love that births a billion butterflies in our chest. But what about when it becomes an angry and unreciprocated love, the kind that forces those fluttery little creatures down, one by one, into your stomach, where they churn and dissolve in your acidic emotions? Or how about the curious, borderline obsessive love that clouds our senses and causes us to act in strange and sometimes dangerous ways. Watch out that it doesn't turn into a jealous love, one that, as we begin to rage and howl, darkens those clouds and blinds our vision.
In Michael Wayne Hampton's Romance for Delinquents, we are judge, jury, and witness to love in all of its extremes: A photography student who double prints nudie photos at the film shop for his scrapbook; a series of couples who deal with infertility in their own, unique ways; the guy who reluctantly takes his old lady's kids to the local carnival and manages to pull it together long enough for them to collectively make a run for it when all hell breaks loose; an overweight, under-motivated amusement park employee who constructs a fantasy world around his soon-to-be-Russian-mail-order-bride; a middle aged man who falls in love, sight unseen, with a 15 year old high school radio jockey and grows balls big enough to start writing her fan letters....
These are people you may have already met. They stand in line around you in the grocery store. They smile at your kids from across the street. They rub elbows with you at the company party.
Hampton's characters are all poised on the edge of something... through his words we can feel their every breath, sense their muscles tense and release... and we watch and wait... for their final plunge...
Romance for Delinquents is a sharp, severe look at a moment in the lives of strangers - quick peeks and longer glimpses that hang with you for some time after the stories are over.
I plan on picking up some more of Hampton's work in the very near future, and I recommend you do the same.
Anyway, how can you turn away from its totally hip cover? That alone should be all the enticement you need!
June 2, 2014
This book is a collection of short stories from various regions of the United States that deal with the many layers, conflicts, and beauty of love. The author, Michael Wayne Hampton does an excellent job with fiction, infusing just enough truth from his own experiences into the fictional characters he crafts so lovingly. I like that his goal was to write a short story and he kept it to that vein. The meaning conveyed throughout many of the stories will leave the reader questioning long after the story is finished. My personal favorites, "Swimmers" and "Home for Wayward Celebrities" both illustrated the many faces of love, the frustration of communication, and the way we perceive ourselves and others.
I plan on using some of these stories in my classroom as mentor texts. Great job Michael and thank you for letting us pick your brain!
I plan on using some of these stories in my classroom as mentor texts. Great job Michael and thank you for letting us pick your brain!
July 8, 2014
I'm not always a fan of short stories, but this little collection is a gem. I love the author's voice,style, and the passion that flies off the page for each set of characters.
"Swimmers" is a story that I honestly believe has NEVER been told before, in any form. "A Long Line of Liars" should be read aloud by Garrison Keillor on a Saturday night; it would probably be his best tale of all time. "The Home for Wayward Celebrities" broke my heart and made me smile, but the one I can't get out of my head is "Sea Change." Once again, I really think this may be a NEW story, and it's told so beautifully--I finished this book two weeks ago and I still find myself thinking of this story every few days.
This is a masterpiece--I look forward to seeing more from this author!
"Swimmers" is a story that I honestly believe has NEVER been told before, in any form. "A Long Line of Liars" should be read aloud by Garrison Keillor on a Saturday night; it would probably be his best tale of all time. "The Home for Wayward Celebrities" broke my heart and made me smile, but the one I can't get out of my head is "Sea Change." Once again, I really think this may be a NEW story, and it's told so beautifully--I finished this book two weeks ago and I still find myself thinking of this story every few days.
This is a masterpiece--I look forward to seeing more from this author!
February 7, 2017
Michael Wayne Hampton knows how to write stories, and specifically, he knows how to write a first sentence that will draw a reader in. Some of the first sentences in this collection are:
"My first real love, Darlene, was bound to die in a car wreck." ("Rabbit Blood")
"Israel Spurlock came out of his mama filled with the devil." ("The Baddest Man in Three Counties")
These stories take you on a wild ride through tattoo shops, roadside carnivals, Salvation Army thrift stores--all the sad nowhere places small town kids grow up. But there are the slow, sensitive stories, too. My favorites of these were "The Physics of Love" and "Little Animals." These are the stories that take their time, that aren't told like they're on fire.
I love this entire book.
"My first real love, Darlene, was bound to die in a car wreck." ("Rabbit Blood")
"Israel Spurlock came out of his mama filled with the devil." ("The Baddest Man in Three Counties")
These stories take you on a wild ride through tattoo shops, roadside carnivals, Salvation Army thrift stores--all the sad nowhere places small town kids grow up. But there are the slow, sensitive stories, too. My favorites of these were "The Physics of Love" and "Little Animals." These are the stories that take their time, that aren't told like they're on fire.
I love this entire book.
August 29, 2020
After reading this I better understand why and how he graded my papers. It's funny how after 8ish years later, I can still hear Professor Hampton's voice as I read work. Knowing the area that he grew up in, I can see the places described. Well written. My only complaint is the formatting is wonky, maybe it's just the Kindle format. But it made reading it a little cumbersome in a few places.
September 6, 2016
This short story collection by Michael Wayne Hampton came highly recommended to me by poet C.M.Keehl. She said that anything by Hampton was incredible, but Romance for Delinquents she described as "wowza". Now I am no expert, but that sounds like pretty high praise to me. The title of the book sounded like it would be right up my alley and I knew that I had to track down a copy for myself.
Hampton's stories feature an array of different characters in wildly differing scenarios and stations in life, but similar themes of loneliness and detachment and misplaced love run throughout each. Loners and outsiders, out of place, out of sorts, searching for connections in all the wrong places. Each character is nuanced and unique, and Hampton is equally at home writing working class, everyman characters as he is writing about the study of theoretical physics. In the best possible way this collection reminded me of my favourite short story collection, Loners by Mark SaFranko, which has similar themes and characters (and you should check out right now!). This is deft and delicate writing, an authentic voice that deserves a much wider audience than it currently receives.
Hampton's stories feature an array of different characters in wildly differing scenarios and stations in life, but similar themes of loneliness and detachment and misplaced love run throughout each. Loners and outsiders, out of place, out of sorts, searching for connections in all the wrong places. Each character is nuanced and unique, and Hampton is equally at home writing working class, everyman characters as he is writing about the study of theoretical physics. In the best possible way this collection reminded me of my favourite short story collection, Loners by Mark SaFranko, which has similar themes and characters (and you should check out right now!). This is deft and delicate writing, an authentic voice that deserves a much wider audience than it currently receives.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews