Lock and Load: Armed Fiction

by Deirdra McAfee (Editor), Bettyjoyce Nash (Editor)

Nothing says America louder than a gun. As the short stories assembled here demonstrate, firearms loom as large in our imaginations as in the news. In this unforgettable anthology, the common theme, and the essential object, is the gun. These striking stories, from such famous authors as Annie Proulx, Bonnie Jo Campbell, and John Edgar Wideman, plus a talented group of newcomers, range widely--from tender to violent, from chilling to hilarious. Tales of love, war, coming of age, and revenge, they occur in landscapes familiar or ordinary, distant or dystopian, and reflect Americans' particular obsession with, and paranoia about, guns. This masterful and thought-provoking collection moves beyond the polarized rhetoric surrounding firearms to spark genuine discussion.

264 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2017

About the author

Deirdra McAfee, who co-edited Lock & Load: Armed Fiction with BettyJoyce Nash, did not murder the boss who inspired "Shield of the Norns," the story she contributed to Lock & Load. She also ignored the fact, true when the story appeared, that no woman had ever murdered a boss.

Soon after McAfee began writing, she attended a one-day workshop in which Grace Paley said she wrote the stories of those we can't hear. That seemed the right reason.

McAfee, a New York native, has also lived in Iowa, Florida, the Marshall Islands, and Virginia. She's worked all kinds of jobs, including swim coach, haberdasher, and telephone solicitor, and has taught at every level from elementary to graduate school.

She received an MFA from the New School and an MA in literature from Georgetown but considers family life the richest, most difficult, and most amusing part of her education as a writer. She now teaches adult classes in creative writing at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond (Virginia).

McAfee’s fiction has appeared in Shenandoah, The Georgia Review, Confrontation, Willow Springs, The Diagram, and elsewhere. She has received residencies in the US and abroad.

Reviews

[Matteo · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best short fiction anthologies I've ever come across, and a great mix of styles and voices.

[Steph Post · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not only does Lock and Load pose some interesting questions and ideas about guns and our identity as Americans, its a fantastic collection of short fiction from master writers (as well as some new authors, who can clearly hold their own). I would recommend this collection both for readers interested in the topic and those just looking for a great short fiction collection.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

What could be more dramatic and timely than fiction with guns at their center? I've never shot a gun myself but I know how central guns are to who we are as Americans. It's not a topic we can ignore. All we can do, as informed citizens, as readers, and as writers, is to try to capture all the nuance and to tell gun stories without romanticizing the violence. This last point is key. We have to be honest about the ugliness of violence. And the writers in this book are unflinchingly honest. From the opening story by Annie Proulx to the last story by Pinkney Benedict, the gun violence and potential violence is anything but romanticized. The writing is sometimes funny and often lyrical, but the violence itself is not glamorous. And that is an impressive achievement on the editor's part. No small feat.

[Denise]

Northwestern University October 2018 alumni magazine re alumni Nash, co-editor.