20 over 40

by Galef, David

• ISBN13: 9781578069033
• ISBN10: 1578069033
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-09-01
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Mississippi

Summary

As anyone over forty can attest, the middle of life can be complex. It means assuming authority over both the younger generation and the older set: kids and aging parents. Still, midlife fiction has gotten short shrift, if it's gotten any shrift at all.For those who like a good story but are tired of youthful fiction,20 over 40offers welcome relief: a short story anthology by authors over age forty about subjects that have a lot to do with that too-often-ignored time of life. Whether the plot concerns tending to children, taking care of older parents, pursuing a love affair, facing one's own age, or just nursing a midlife crisis, these stories speak to the complexities of real life. These writers are no longer novices, yet they're not jaded or cynical. They know their craft.David Galef is a professor of English and director of the Yoknapatawpha Summer Writers' Workshop at the University of Mississippi. His previous publications include a short story collection (Laugh Track) and two novels (FleshandTurning Japanese). Beth Weinhouse is the current editor-in-chief forConceivemagazine and has worked as a freelance writer and/or editor forChild,Remedy,Redbook,Self, andLadies Home Journal.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
David Galef
Beth Weinhouse
Acknowledgments	xi
Rocket Day	3	(16)
Ron Carlson
From Mars	19	(13)
Frederick Barthelme
Future House	32	(14)
Alice Mattison
Our Triangle Thing	46	(14)
Oliver Conant
The Old Economy Husband	60	(18)
Lesley Dormen
Game Time	78	(17)
Mark Edmundson
Cerulean	95	(25)
Percival Everett
Virgin Call	120	(12)
Gary Every
Chest Pain	132	(19)
Matthew Love
Off the Road	151	(14)
Mark Kamine
Forty Acres and a Pool	165	(9)
Linnea Johnson
Birthmates	174	(20)
Gish Jen
The Marble Quilt	194	(48)
David Leavitt
Devotion	242	(25)
Robin Hemley
Time and Space	267	(16)
Jane Mullen
Dick	283	(26)
Antonya Nelson
How to Fix Your Own Flat	309	(7)
Phyllis Nobles
Darling?	316	(27)
Heidi Jon Schmidt
Christmas in Gruel	343	(17)
George Singleton
Transubstantiation	360	(10)
Margaret Hermes
Contributors	370	(10)
Credits	380