Uneasy Pickings: Tales from the In-Between

by David Patneaude

In this collection of eleven stories—mostly new but also newly told—David Patneaude explores the in-between, the spaces and places and people and remnants of people that we instinctively know (and sometimes fear) are there. Somewhere. Not far away. A predawn shadow moving through a fallow field. The chill of bigotry in a human heart. A clown whose mission transcends laughter. Two damaged individuals coming together to create something beyond whole, something magical. Innocent victims of a neglected planet. Bigger-than-life characters who won’t take death lying down. An iconic statue with an appetite. Evil on the wing. Extraordinary wisdom from an old soul in a young body. A gruff but lovable superhero who evokes smiles while saving the day. “Things aren’t always what they seem,” Mrs. Caruso said. “Not what they seem at all. Sometimes they’re better.” Or spookier. Or braver. Or sadder. Or funnier. Or more enlightening. Or miraculous. Because every reader—young and not-so-young—is an individual, it’s difficult to say what emotions these stories will trigger. One of them may be uneasiness. But that can be a good thing.

202 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 23, 2017

About the author

David Patneaude began writing seriously (more or less) in the 1980s. His first novel, SOMEONE WAS WATCHING, was published in 1993. His books have been named to dozens of state young readers' lists and honored by the New York Public Library, the Society of School Librarians International, the Winnetka (Illinois) Public Library's "One Book, Two Villages" program, and the Washington State Public Library. His latest was EPITAPH ROAD, a recent nominee for the Nebraska Golden Sower Book Award. But on June 1, 2018, his newest YA novel, FAST BACKWARD, launches. Check it out! When he's not in a coffee shop writing, or at a school or library or conference discussing writing, or out on the trail thinking about writing, he's home in Woodinville, Washington, with his wife Judy, a middle school librarian.