Bring Your Legs with You [Paperback]

“Spencer lets his characters do the talking, and their dialogue is pitch-perfect. . . . go twelve rounds with this collection, and chances are its emotional wisdom will seem like sweet science.”

“Spencer’s descriptions of Las Vegas are haunting; it’s often hard to remember which time period to place the narrative in when it’s surrounded by such an idyllic and seldom-experienced side of the city.”

—Pittsburgh Magazine

“Part of the pleasure of reading this book is Spencer’s ability to render character, to reveal the speakers’ vulnerability behind their machismo and rough edges. Readers are likely to be reduced by this book’s language—dialogue so hard-hitting you feel as if you might have toughed up just by reading it. But the emotional weight of the characters’ lives is what makes them so memorable. . . . The bewitching language and poignancy of these characters remains long after the stories are over.”

—Ohioana Quarterly

“Spencer possesses a remarkable ear for the cadence of everyday speech, as his characters circle and spar and contend with one another in the clinch of family and marriage, friendship and enmity. His depiction of Las Vegas is so fresh and affecting that I will never be able to visit the city again without seeing it, in part, through the lens of this collection.”

Darrell Spenceris professor of English at Ohio University. He is the author of three previous books of short stories, includingCaution: Men in Trees,cowinner of the 1998 Flannery O’Connor Award.