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Acceleration Hours: Stories (Volume 1)
2020 Reading the West Book Awards, Longlist for Fiction
2020 Foreword INDIE awards, longlist
From the author of the critically-acclaimed novel, I’d Walk with My Friends If I Could Find Them , Jesse Goolsby’s Acceleration Hours is a haunting collection of narratives about families, life, and loss during America’s twenty-first-century forever wars. Set across the mountain west of the United States, these fierce, original, and compelling stories illuminate the personal search for human connection and intimacy. From a stepfather’s grief to an AWOL soldier and her journey of reconciliation to a meditation on children, violence, and hope, Acceleration Hours is an intense and necessary portrayal of the many voices living in a time of perpetual war.
2020 Foreword INDIE awards, longlist
From the author of the critically-acclaimed novel, I’d Walk with My Friends If I Could Find Them , Jesse Goolsby’s Acceleration Hours is a haunting collection of narratives about families, life, and loss during America’s twenty-first-century forever wars. Set across the mountain west of the United States, these fierce, original, and compelling stories illuminate the personal search for human connection and intimacy. From a stepfather’s grief to an AWOL soldier and her journey of reconciliation to a meditation on children, violence, and hope, Acceleration Hours is an intense and necessary portrayal of the many voices living in a time of perpetual war.
- GenresShort Stories
208 pages, Hardcover
Published May 6, 2020
4 people are currently reading
295 people want to read
About the author
Jesse Goolsby
6 books38 followersJesse Goolsby is an Air Force officer and the author of the story collection ACCELERATION HOURS (University of Nevada Press) and the novel I'D WALK WITH MY FRIENDS IF I COULD FIND THEM (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), winner of the Florida Book Award for Fiction and long-listed for the Flaherty-Duncan First Novel Prize. His fiction and essays have appeared widely, to include The Literary Review, EPOCH, The Kenyon Review, Narrative Magazine, Salon, and Pleiades. He is the recipient of the Richard Bausch Short Story Prize, the John Gardner Memorial Award in Fiction, and fellowships from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences. His work has been listed as notable in both Best American Essays and Best American Short Stories, and selected for Best American Mystery Stories. He serves as Acquisitions Editor for the literary journal War, Literature & the Arts.
Goolsby holds an English degree from the United States Air Force Academy, a Masters degree in English from the University of Tennessee, and a PhD in English and Creative Writing from Florida State University. He was raised in Chester, California, and now lives in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Goolsby holds an English degree from the United States Air Force Academy, a Masters degree in English from the University of Tennessee, and a PhD in English and Creative Writing from Florida State University. He was raised in Chester, California, and now lives in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 9, 2021
Just a phenomenal collection. Loved Goolsby's novel, and this is a pitch-perfect continuation. Surprisingly some of the strongest pieces were the shorter ones, but all of it is pretty relentless and great. Dude writes like no one else. Just fantastic work.
February 25, 2021
This author has a definite grasp on the written word and I was really impressed by the scope and originality of each individual piece and how they all combined to offer a glimpse into those who have been directly involved or affected by war and the aftermath. I would definitely be interested in reading more from this author. I feel that the grasp that I obtained was valuable. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.
April 30, 2020
Excellent short stories written by an Air Force veteran about war and those who have been there. Most of the stories are about recent and ongoing wars and their horrors or aftermath. The author really gets inside the heads of his characters. Lots of pathos. While not every story spoke to me, most did. Very good job of evoking empathy for our young vets suffering from ptsd and drug abuse.
May 8, 2020
I am not much of a short story reader; but these stories are excellent. The themes are generally dark; the author is a professor at the US Air Force Academy and the protagonists are for the most part military personnel or have military themes. He is an extremely talented author and I plan to read more of his works, although will be concentrating on novels.
June 12, 2020
Won a kindle copy from a goodreads giveaway.
These stories were like a punch to the gut - full of raw emotion and uncomfortable truths. In this way, these stories reminded me of The Things They Carried and Redeployment. Goolsby has a style that is unique and feels fresh; his choices of perspective, structure, etc were surprising and make these stories worth a second or third visit.
These stories were like a punch to the gut - full of raw emotion and uncomfortable truths. In this way, these stories reminded me of The Things They Carried and Redeployment. Goolsby has a style that is unique and feels fresh; his choices of perspective, structure, etc were surprising and make these stories worth a second or third visit.
June 1, 2020
Excellent book!!!
September 14, 2020
Stunning and totally worth the read. These short stories are masterfully written, all have an element of military, and all have compelling characters. One of my favorite reads from 2020 so far.
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July 27, 2021read for short story class
realistically probably a 4 bc of benevolence but didn’t want to rate it since i had to speed read for class
realistically probably a 4 bc of benevolence but didn’t want to rate it since i had to speed read for class
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews