"A phenomenal talent blazing up suddenly on the horizon. . . . precise, brilliant language that evokes without ever having to explain. . . . His transcendent vision gives us devastating glimpses."—
Elle
"John McManus writes visceral prose that explodes within the tight boundaries of the short story. These narratives possess a graceful internal logic and feature a wide range of gritty characters rebelling against an indifferent and often brutal world."—
Bookforum
"The stories in John McManus's
Born on a Train
are powered by radiant prose."—
Vanity Fair
John McManus's long awaited short story collection encompasses the geographic limits of America, from trailers hidden in deep Southern woods to an Arkansas ranch converted into an elephant refuge. His lost-soul characters reel precariously between common anxiety and drug-enhanced paranoia, sober reality and fearsome hallucination. These nine masterpieces of twisted humor and pathos re-establish McManus as one of the most bracing voices of our time.
John McManus
is the author of the novel
Bitter Milk
and the short story collections
and
Stop Breakin Down
, all published by Picador. His work has appeared in
Ploughshares
,
Tin House
American Short Fiction
The Oxford American
The Literary Review
Harvard Review
, and many other places. He is the youngest-ever recipient of the Whiting Award.