Stiller's Pond: New Fiction From the Upper Midwest

by Jonis Agee (Editor), Roger L. Blakely Jr. (Editor), Susan Welch (Editor)

If you want a book that allows you to sample the varied voices talking, singing, complaining, remembering, enduring, and loving in this heartland, you'll want to read the new Stiller's Pond.--St. Paul Pioneer Press Dispatch

500 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1992

About the author

Jonis owns twenty pairs of cowboy boots, some of them works of art, loves the open road, and believes that ecstasy and hard work are the basic ingredients of life and writing.

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, she grew up in Nebraska and Missouri, places where many of her stories and novels are set. She was educated at The University of Iowa (BA) and The State University of New York at Binghamton (MA, PhD). She is Adele Hall Professor of English at The University of Nebraska — Lincoln, where she teaches creative writing and twentieth-century fiction.

Awards include three books chosen as New York Times Notable Books, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, Nebraska Book Award, Nebraska Arts Council Merit Award, Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship in Fiction, Loft McKnight Award of Distinction, and Editor's Choice Award from Foreword Magazine.

Reviews

[Wendy Johansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a sucker for regional fiction, especially related to my region. I liked some of these stories very much; others not so much. A collection of short stories for me now was perfect for a compromised attention span. That could be said for periods between novels or even during reading a novel. I appreciate the distillation of a story, the bare essentials to communicate it, on the verge of poetry.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite collections of short stories- maybe because a lot of the authors were not well known when this first came out. All the stories are about my part of the country which makes them even more interesting to me. They are filled with local humor and color.