Said and Done

James Morrison

Release Date: June 1, 2009

ISBN: 978-0981589909

Author Website
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Price: $16.00

DESCRIPTION

Finalist for a Lambda Literary Award
Bronze Medal Winner in the Short Stories category of the ForeWord Book of the Year Award

In Said and Done, a father dealing equivocally with his son's ambiguous sexuality conducts a drunken tour of a famous artist's birthplace. Two lonely women turn the tables on an antic stalker. In these stories, James Morrison's characters frequently come to grips with their own lives through connections with others.

ADVANCE PRAISE

"You read James Morrison knowing you're in the hands of an extraordinary writer, with a sure sense of musicality, pacing, and description. But the real achievement of Said and Done is not so visible. These characters will possess your imagination long after you've put the book down. How does he do that?" —Paul Lisicky, author of Lawn Boy and Famous Builder

"Both literary and chatty, full of style and voice, at once leisurely and tense—there are always at least two things going on in the tales of Said and Done. The characters are reticent and they are expansive, caught between the devil of the self and the deep blue sea that is the rest of the world—and the story, between these two hard hinged halves, is the precious thing we’re reading toward. Lucky you, to be diving for such pearls." —Brian Bouldrey, author of The Boom Economy and Honorable Bandit: A Walk Across Corsica

"An artful, often suspenseful collection of stories by a gifted writer who looks out clearly, and darkly, upon the world." —David Ebershoff, author of The 19th Wife and The Danish Girl

REVIEWS

"Reading this book and enjoying the stories, each as free agents of prose rather than members of some cohesive aesthetic team, makes me hope that despite our age of a la carte song selection—no doubt only presaging some age of choose-your-own story collection—we will still be provided occasionally with a true sampler, highlighting variety over conformity, highlighting stories we didn’t select ourselves. Sometimes it’s nice not having a choice." —The Quarterly Conversation

"The stories in this collection...explore the nuances of feeling and the power dynamics of intimate moments between family members, lovers, and strangers, in a way that is deeply insightful without over-explaining. Morrison's vision of human nature contains shades of Shirley Jackson and Flannery O'Connor... These stories always leave the reader with the sense that there is more to the characters than the chosen anecdote can reveal." —Winning Writers