Banjo Grease

(Paperback, 2nd New edition)

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Description

But it's the dead folks that do him the damage. It's the dead ones that lay quiet in one place and don't try to hold him, that he can't escape from. --William Faulkner, Light in August

There is an inexplicable gravity in a small town. It can be read and enjoyed like a favorite book for most of its inhabitants. Comforting are its streets and institutions, its wedding and obituary announcements. Banjo Grease is about life and death in a mill town where at each epiphany and rite of passage, the narrator yields a ration of innocence. Characters portray class as a marker as strong as race and gender, and distrust that they will ever escape in their lifetimes. Faulkner uses the term "eager fatalism." These stories' cumulative effect asks: When exchanging naivete for worldliness, what is lost in denying one's past

Reviews

"These stories float through the reader like frozen images. Each one fits into the others unevenly as jagged glass. This is the essence of great fiction at the end of the century; Ray Carver and Thom Jones plowed into some stupendous force that whips along with a tilted wild energy." Kate Gale, author of Goldilocks Zone

"Dennis Musts first collection of short stories is no ordinary debut but the mature work of a fully accomplished literary artist. Moreover, his originality, his deep irreverence, and his compassion for working-class men and women . . . Strivers and seekers of dreams, signal him as an inspired author in a new American graina visionary, poet, and realist . . ." Tom Jenks, editor (with Raymond Carver) of American Short Story Masterpieces

"Dennis Musts stunning collection Banjo Grease is just what one hopes for: a series of intriguing, interlocking stories whose cumulative force goes beyond the sum of its parts." Geoffrey Clark, author of Jackdog Summer, What the Moon Said, and Rabbit Fever

Author Bio

Dennis Mustis the author of three novels: Brother Carnival (Red Hen Press, November 2018), The Worlds Smallest Bible (Red Hen Press, March 2014), and Hush Now, Dont Explain (Coffeetown Press, October 2014), as well as three short story collections: Going Dark (Coffeetown Press, 2016), Oh, Dont Ask Why (Red Hen Press, 2007), and Banjo Grease (Creative Arts Book Company, 2000). He won the 2014 Dactyl Foundation Literary Fiction Award for Hush Now, Dont Explain, and The Worlds Smallest Bible was a 2014 USA Best Book Award Finalist in the Literary Fiction category. His plays have been produced Off-Off Broadway and he has been published in numerous anthologies and literary journals. He resides with his wife in Salem, Massachusetts. http://www.dennismust.com/index.html Dennis Mustis the author of three novels: Brother Carnival (Red Hen Press, November 2018), The Worlds Smallest Bible (Red Hen Press, March 2014), and Hush Now, Dont Explain (Coffeetown Press, October 2014), as well as three short story collections: Going Dark (Coffeetown Press, 2016), Oh, Dont Ask Why (Red Hen Press, 2007), and Banjo Grease (Creative Arts Book Company, 2000). He won the 2014 Dactyl Foundation Literary Fiction Award for Hush Now, Dont Explain, and The Worlds Smallest Bible was a 2014 USA Best Book Award Finalist in the Literary Fiction category. His plays have been produced Off-Off Broadway and he has been published in numerous anthologies and literary journals. He resides with his wife in Salem, Massachusetts. http://www.dennismust.com/index.html Dennis Mustis the author of three novels: Brother Carnival (Red Hen Press, November 2018), The Worlds Smallest Bible (Red Hen Press, March 2014), and Hush Now, Dont Explain (Coffeetown Press, October 2014), as well as three short story collections: Going Dark (Coffeetown Press, 2016), Oh, Dont Ask Why (Red Hen Press, 2007), and Banjo Grease (Creative Arts Book Company, 2000). He won the 2014 Dactyl Foundation Literary Fiction Award for Hush Now, Dont Explain, and The Worlds Smallest Bible was a 2014 USA Best Book Award Finalist in the Literary Fiction category. His plays have been produced Off-Off Broadway and he has been published in numerous anthologies and literary journals. He resides with his wife in Salem, Massachusetts. http://www.dennismust.com/index.html Dennis Mustis the author of three novels: Brother Carnival (Red Hen Press, November 2018), The Worlds Smallest Bible (Red Hen Press, March 2014), and Hush Now, Dont Explain (Coffeetown Press, October 2014), as well as three short story collections: Going Dark (Coffeetown Press, 2016), Oh, Dont Ask Why (Red Hen Press, 2007), and Banjo Grease (Creative Arts Book Company, 2000). He won the 2014 Dactyl Foundation Literary Fiction Award for Hush Now, Dont Explain, and The Worlds Smallest Bible was a 2014 USA Best Book Award Finalist in the Literary Fiction category. His plays have been produced Off-Off Broadway and he has been published in numerous anthologies and literary journals. He resides with his wife in Salem, Massachusetts. http://www.dennismust.com/index.html Dennis Mustis the author of three novels: Brother Carnival (Red Hen Press, November 2018), The Worlds Smallest Bible (Red Hen Press, March 2014), and Hush Now, Dont Explain (Coffeetown Press, October 2014), as well as three short story collections: Going Dark (Coffeetown Press, 2016), Oh, Dont Ask Why (Red Hen Press, 2007), and Banjo Grease (Creative Arts Book Company, 2000). He won the 2014 Dactyl Foundation Literary Fiction Award for Hush Now, Dont Explain, and The Worlds Smallest Bible was a 2014 USA Best Book Award Finalist in the Literary Fiction category. His plays have been produced Off-Off Broadway and he has been published in numerous anthologies and literary journals. He resides with his wife in Salem, Massachusetts. http://www.dennismust.com/index.html Dennis Mustis the author of three novels: Brother Carnival (Red Hen Press, November 2018), The Worlds Smallest Bible (Red Hen Press, March 2014), and Hush Now, Dont Explain (Coffeetown Press, October 2014), as well as three short story collections: Going Dark (Coffeetown Press, 2016), Oh, Dont Ask Why (Red Hen Press, 2007), and Banjo Grease (Creative Arts Book Company, 2000). He won the 2014 Dactyl Foundation Literary Fiction Award for Hush Now, Dont Explain, and The Worlds Smallest Bible was a 2014 USA Best Book Award Finalist in the Literary Fiction category. His plays have been produced Off-Off Broadway and he has been published in numerous anthologies and literary journals. He resides with his wife in Salem, Massachusetts. http://www.dennismust.com/index.html Dennis Mustis the author of three novels: Brother Carnival (Red Hen Press, November 2018), The Worlds Smallest Bible (Red Hen Press, March 2014), and Hush Now, Dont Explain (Coffeetown Press, October 2014), as well as three short story collections: Going Dark (Coffeetown Press, 2016), Oh, Dont Ask Why (Red Hen Press, 2007), and Banjo Grease (Creative Arts Book Company, 2000). He won the 2014 Dactyl Foundation Literary Fiction Award for Hush Now, Dont Explain, and The Worlds Smallest Bible was a 2014 USA Best Book Award Finalist in the Literary Fiction category. His plays have been produced Off-Off Broadway and he has been published in numerous anthologies and literary journals. He resides with his wife in Salem, Massachusetts. http://www.dennismust.com/index.html Dennis Mustis the author of three novels: Brother Carnival (Red Hen Press, November 2018), The Worlds Smallest Bible (Red Hen Press, March 2014), and Hush Now, Dont Explain (Coffeetown Press, October 2014), as well as three short story collections: Going Dark (Coffeetown Press, 2016), Oh, Dont Ask Why (Red Hen Press, 2007), and Banjo Grease (Creative Arts Book Company, 2000). He won the 2014 Dactyl Foundation Literary Fiction Award for Hush Now, Dont Explain, and The Worlds Smallest Bible was a 2014 USA Best Book Award Finalist in the Literary Fiction category. His plays have been produced Off-Off Broadway and he has been published in numerous anthologies and literary journals. He resides with his wife in Salem, Massachusetts. http://www.dennismust.com/index.html Dennis Mustis the author of three novels: Brother Carnival (Red Hen Press, November 2018), The Worlds Smallest Bible (Red Hen Press, March 2014), and Hush Now, Dont Explain (Coffeetown Press, October 2014), as well as three short story collections: Going Dark (Coffeetown Press, 2016), Oh, Dont Ask Why (Red Hen Press, 2007), and Banjo Grease (Creative Arts Book Company, 2000). He won the 2014 Dactyl Foundation Literary Fiction Award for Hush Now, Dont Explain, and The Worlds Smallest Bible was a 2014 USA Best Book Award Finalist in the Literary Fiction category. His plays have been produced Off-Off Broadway and he has been published in numerous anthologies and literary journals. He resides with his wife in Salem, Massachusetts. http://www.dennismust.com/index.html Dennis Mustis the author of three novels: Brother Carnival (Red Hen Press, November 2018), The Worlds Smallest Bible (Red Hen Press, March 2014), and Hush Now, Dont Explain (Coffeetown Press, October 2014), as well as three short story collections: Going Dark (Coffeetown Press, 2016), Oh, Dont Ask Why (Red Hen Press, 2007), and Banjo Grease (Creative Arts Book Company, 2000). He won the 2014 Dactyl Foundation Literary Fiction Award for Hush Now, Dont Explain, and The Worlds Smallest Bible was a 2014 USA Best Book Award Finalist in the Literary Fiction category. His plays have been produced Off-Off Broadway and he has been published in numerous anthologies and literary journals. He resides with his wife in Salem, Massachusetts. http://www.dennismust.com/index.html Dennis Mustis the author of three novels: Brother Carnival (Red Hen Press, November 2018), The Worlds Smallest Bible (Red Hen Press, March 2014), and Hush Now, Dont Explain (Coffeetown Press, October 2014), as well as three short story collections: Going Dark (Coffeetown Press, 2016), Oh, Dont Ask Why (Red Hen Press, 2007), and Banjo Grease (Creative Arts Book Company, 2000). He won the 2014 Dactyl Foundation Literary Fiction Award for Hush Now, Dont Explain, and The Worlds Smallest Bible was a 2014 USA Best Book Award Finalist in the Literary Fiction category. His plays have been produced Off-Off Broadway and he has been published in numerous anthologies and literary journals. He resides with his wife in Salem, Massachusetts. http://www.dennismust.com/index.html