The West: Stories from Ireland

by Eddie Stack

Seven short stories set in the West of Ireland. From the opening tale, "Time Passes," to the final story "Derramore," these pieces reveal the soul of a community-its hopes, dreams and schemes. In The West, fatalism and possibility run side by side, the Otherworld is as near as the Church. The double focus of the Irish.

With storyteller intimacy, Eddie Stack evokes life in a series of almost cinematic prose portraits of people, places and situations. The stories are smooth, each one remarkably different, but the click together to form a pattern. With its wit, originality and sensitivity, The West belongs in the best tradition of Irish writing.



"Variously fantastic, comic, elegiac and nostaligic, Mr. Stack's fiction is versatile and engaging...a vivid, compassionate, authentic voice...securing (him) a place in the celebrated tradition of his country's storytelling."

New York Times Book Review


â Thereâ s a genuinely wild and fugitive comic sence in these tales that puts one in mind of Myles na Gopaleen as much as the salt spume dam, George Makay Brown. Never sentimental, often funny, always accurate, this is pithy, finely tuned writing of a high order.â

Robert Carver, Observer (UK)

132 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1989

About the author

Eddie Stack has received several accolades for his fiction, including an American Small Press of the Year Award, a Top 100 Irish American Award and Caomhnú Award. Recognised as an outstanding short story writer, he is the author of four collections of short stories: The West, Out of the Blue, Quare Hawks and Borderlines. He has also published HEADS, a novel, and The Irish, a collection of three novellas.

His work has appeared in literary reviews and anthologies worldwide, including Fiction, Confrontation, Whispers & Shouts, Southwords, Criterion, State of the Art: Stories from New Irish Writers; Irish Christmas Stories, The Clare Anthology and Fiction in the Classroom.

Stephen Windwalker of Kindle Nation wrote this about ’Derramore‘, a story from The West:

"Let me just say this: I've read dozens of novels and stories that found some way to pay homage to James Joyce over the years, but frankly there have been few of them that convinced me they had any real claim on the reference. Not so with 'Derramore.' Turbo Tracy's forgeries may not involve the uncreated conscience of his race, but this story, more than any that I've read in decades, put me in touch again with the best of Dubliners and some of the vignettes of Portrait and Ulysses, so much so that, when I finished reading the story and found the blurbs from the Times Book Review and other journals, I actually felt they were understated".

A natural storyteller, Eddie has recorded spoken word versions of his work, with music by Irish Martin masters Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill. Mp3 audio stories are available on his website.
Eddie is currently working on a book about the culture and traditional arts of Doolin, County Clare. Slated for publication in 2014, it includes interviews and profiles of tradition bearers, features on storytelling, dancing as well as music and songs from Doolin. Readers will have access to a web site where they can listen to, and download, audio and video of the tradition bearers featured in the book.

Eddie Stack's books are available in print, and ebook format for Kindle, iPad, Nook and Kobo.