Esquire Ball, Stories from the Great Black Swamp

by Lisa Slage Robinson

With a nod to Borges, Kafka, and Daphne du Maurier, Esquire Ball, Stories from the Great Black Swamp is a Midwestern gothic collection of thirteen linked stories in which a young female attorney discovers what it takes to succeed.
In this debut collection, set primarily in 1980s Northwest Ohio, ambitious men marry frog wives; a mother-daughter duo trap souls in farmhouse windows; a teenager drowns in a sea of corn; an associate breaks into a client's house to steal a token of remembrance; and a PhD candidate reveals the secrets of the universe while having a threesome with her boyfriend and a tree. Through the lens of magical feminism, and braiding in fairytales and mythology, Esquire Ball examines the gray side of ethics, the tyranny of ambition, and the collateral damage left in its wake.

Genres: Short Stories

182 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 10, 2026

About the author

Lisa Slage Robinson writes to explore invisible landscapes and magical feminism. Named a finalist for Midwest Review’s Great Midwest Fiction Contest, her work appears in Iron Horse Literary Review, Smokelong Quarterly, The Adroit Journal, PRISM, Atticus Review, Storm Cellar, Necessary Fiction, Lit Pub, Meat for Tea and elsewhere. A former litigator and corporate attorney, she practiced law in the United States and Canada. Lisa serves on the Board of Directors for Autumn House Press. Born and raised in Ohio, she lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and keeps the lights on for their daughters.

Reviews

[Lisa Brunner · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Note: I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I am also going to try and write this review with NO spoilers!)

I truly loved this collection of stories! The prose is vibrant- every moment plays in high-definition. The characters are rendered perfectly through mannerism and tone, as though they were sitting right in front of you. As you read, you discover that you have met this person is real life somewhere—and it is both alarming and hilarious!
This collection lets the reader sit in the joy of the moment, but also makes the reader sit in the strange quandary of “was that the right thing to do?,” even when you are CHEERING for the action the character took! I actually laughed out loud at these moments because I found them so relatable (I am also an attorney)!
This collection was fantastic and I can’t wait for more from this author!

[Alexandra Elek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lisa Slage Robinson's Esquire Ball: Stories from the Great Black Swamp is one of the most original and captivating short story collections I've ever read. These thirteen interconnected stories blend Midwestern Gothic atmosphere, folklore, magical realism, and sharp observations about ambition, power, and human nature into something wholly unique.

Set against the backdrop of Northwest Ohio's vanished Great Black Swamp, the collection transforms an ordinary legal and social landscape into a place where the strange feels inevitable. Robinson's characters—lawyers, dreamers, schemers, and outsiders—are crisp, vividly drawn, and deeply human. Flawed yet compelling, they navigate lives shaped by desire, loss, and the consequences of their choices. Even as the stories veer into the surreal, the emotional core remains grounded, giving each character remarkable depth and making them feel entirely real.

What impressed me most was Robinson's ability to weave together fairy-tale logic, dark humor, and genuine insight. Frog wives and souls trapped in farmhouse windows coexist with office politics, family tensions, and professional ambition, creating a world where the uncanny feels entirely natural. The result is an immersive, richly detailed Gothic collection that is both haunting and surprisingly tender.

The prose is elegant and precise, the imagery lingers long after the final page, and the interconnected structure rewards careful reading. Fans of literary fiction, magical realism, and Gothic storytelling will find much to admire here. Readers who enjoy the uncanny, genre-blurring storytelling of Carmen Maria Machado will find a lot to love in Robinson's work as well, particularly the way both writers use the surreal to illuminate deeper emotional and societal truths.

Not only is Esquire Ball: Stories from the Great Black Swamp an imaginative and unforgettable collection, but its impact is immense. Robinson’s stories feel especially relevant today as people continue to question what success, identity, and belonging truly mean. Through characters struggling with ambition, power, and personal choices, she reveals a world where the pursuit of achievement can come at the expense of connection and compassion. By reviving the forgotten landscape of the Great Black Swamp, Robinson challenges the way overlooked places and communities are often dismissed or reduced to stereotypes. Her magical elements do more than create a strange and captivating world—they illuminate real issues like grief, inequality, family conflict, and human connection. In a time when many people feel increasingly divided and disconnected, Esquire Ball reminds readers of the shared experiences that unite us and encourages us to see the beauty and complexity in the people and places we often overlook.

I highly recommend this collection.

[Cristina Rouvalis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved, loved loved Esquire Ball, a collection of loosely connected short stories about a fictional 80s law firm Strathy, McMahon in Toledo in an area that was once the Great Black Swamp Author Lisa Slage Robinson drops you into the lives of young women in suits with enormous shoulder pads as they try to muscle their way to this cut-throat world. One story begins with a young lawyer named Cissy, a recurring character, who says that everyone tells her she doesn’t look like a lawyer because she looks so nice. “ I’m not as nice as I seem or nearly as mean as I'd like to be." She then proceeds to practice all the profanity-laced rants of a male rainmaker named Wallender. Another story begins with this opening line: “Mr. Campbell imagined her broken-home swagger, the fringe of her cut-off jean shorts, the sweet curve of her jailbait ass.” My favorite story, "The Parade of Horribles," is about Cissy’s dysfunctional family, and how it is all changes when a charming brother named Jimmer is dumped into her home. This book is by turns funny and fierce, realistic and fantastical – but always a page-turner.

[BabaJiggles · Rating 3 out of 5]

liked the promising premise, but the prose is too verbose, too Virginia Woolf and too many threads that try to become "one" naturally but in the end become a huge mothball. I really liked Cissy's arc and wished that it was more consistent but the ending story didn't finish very strong. overall, it really gave off strong MFA vibes and expected the attention span of a lit grad poring through every page searching for the loose threads, but these threads were already frayed and hard to tie.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ohio noir. Midwestern gothic. Cissy and the squad at Strathy, McMahon will stick with me for some time.

I loved the way the stories were entwined, jumping around chronologically and around POVs. Together with the frog motif and environmental specificity of Northwestern Ohio, the collection builds a kind of cyclical history, tied up in the last story, “Legend.” There’s so much to unpack and appreciate, I can’t wait to discuss at book club.

[David Diffendal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lisa captures a rare bit of nostalgia and Midwest charm in this Gothic style collection of short stories. It feels like she has a keen understanding of generation X, and the coming-of-age experiences that made those years special. Great character development and wonderful stories - couldn’t out it down.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

The world building is spectacular. You can feel yourself immersed in each character’s life. From the Banjo Man to Liza/Phoebe/Cassie, I want to spend more time learning their secrets. I appreciated the subtle nods to feminist classics (both literary and mythological).

[Sophie]

toledo representation matters

[Johanna DeJesus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Updating my review after meeting with my book club where the author joined us. I love the insight I got from the group discussion. There's so much more to unpack here that I didn't realize because I don't have an extensive literary background to understand some of the references. I want to give this another read to pick up on what I missed. I still really like the first story about the female lawyer stalking her client and how she stole the tooth from under a child's pillow she was babysitting. It was creepy and made me want to know more about her. Besides the first story, my favorites were Esquire Ball, Circus Polka, and Parade of Horribles.