Beyond Redemption

by Gary V. Powell

It’s small wonder that Gary V. Powell’s short stories and flash fiction have received wide-spread recognition. This collection of mostly previously-published short stories and flash fiction reveal a seasoned writer at the top of his game. Meet a young lawyer whose rite of passage to partnership entails much more than good lawyering. Listen in on a family teetering on the brink of disaster as the geese gather on Horicon Marsh. Put yourself in the place of a corporate manager asked to fire an older man he respects. Take a trip down the Baha with a man who has lost everything and knows he’ll never get it back. Go back home for the funeral of the friend who was you lover in high school. Sometimes these characters win. Sometimes they lose. In language that’s both spare and inviting, Mr. Powell introduces us to stories of real people, battling real problems. Grab hold and hang on.

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Gary V. Powell, a former lawyer, is a stay-at-home dad to a thirteen year-old son. His stories and flash fiction have appeared most recently at Bartleby Snopes, Carvezine, Thrice Fiction, Connotation Press: An Online Artifact, Camroc Press Review, Blue Fifth Review, and Best New Writing 2015. In addition to winning the 2015 Gover Prize for short-short fiction, his work has placed in other national contests including The Press 53 Prize (2012), Glimmer Train Short-Short Contest (2013), and the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize (2014). His first novel, Lucky Bastard, is available through Main Street Rag Press.

Reviews

[Michael Maxwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beyond Redemption explores the struggles of adolescents to assert themselves, young people coming of age, middle aged couples coming to grips with broken dreams and broken relationships, laid off factory workers, patients in a psych ward, people struggling to reconcile dreams of the past with the reality of the present, and people bumped, bruised and dinged up by life, but who find a way to dig deep and muster the resolve to keep on keepin' on. Conflict lies at the heart of each piece and creates the tension that drives it. However, these are not depressing stories. Each one of them is, in some way, about resiliency of the human spirit.

Powell demonstrates an impressive ability to drop the reader into a specific time and place while wearing the character's point of view like a second skin. He is not constrained by age or gender. Powell writes just as convincingly from the point of view of an angst ridden teenage girl looking for acceptance as he does from that of a disaffected middle aged man plodding through an unrewarding corporate career.

Many of the stories are colored by a very recognizable regional mid western flavor with references to Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan and the Great Lakes. However, Powell writes just as convincingly about the deep south and the bayou country of Louisiana. Gary Powell is a great story teller who, in my opinion, is in the same league as widely recognized contemporary recognized masters of the form including Tobias Wolff, Amy Hempel and Ann Beattie. Beyond Redemption is a collection well worth reading and my only regret is that I came to the end of it.

[Nathaniel Tower · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gary V Powell knows how to tell a story. In this diverse collection, Powell skillfully crafts tales about lawyers, families, hot moms, and much more. The stories are told succinctly without sacrificing depth or tension. These are powerful stories that reveal more about humanity than you ever thought could be crammed into 120 pages. Consider yourself redeemed.