I thought this book would be an interesting one with which to start the collection. One of the nice things about small presses is that they can specialize. I don't have numbers to back it up but I would expect, for instance, that most new poetry that is published is published by small presses. There's not a mass market for new poetry but for those firms that specialize in it, they can focus their marketing and publishing efforts on those readers.
Garth Risk Hallberg's book could possibly fall under the realm of short stories but I think they're too short to even be labeled that. The back cover calls them "interlinked fictional vignettes" of which there are 63 with 63 photos included. The book can be read in any order, making it seem like a Choose Your Own Adventure book (which the back cover also makes mention of. We think alike.).
I enjoyed reading this interview that Hallberg did with The Faster Times and that helped prompt the decision to acquire the book. Even more so, I've enjoyed his writings at The Millions.
One other note to make about this book...it is a really lovely book. There are a ton of photographs and has a very unique design to it. Definitely the prettiest book of the dozen with which we've started.
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