Not Normal, Illinois Peculiar Fictions from the Flyover [Paperback]

Do Midwesterners have a peculiar way of looking at the world? Is there something not quite right about the way they see things? For such a normal place, the heartland has produced some writers who take a most individual approach to storytelling. And the resultto the delight of readers everywherehas been stories that reveal the mystery, joy, and enchantment in the most ordinary and incidental moments of life. These 33 exceptional tales showcase the peculiarly wonderful vision of some of the regions best-known or soon-to-be-celebrated writers. Each invites its readers to see the world through different eyes and see it anew.

Not Normal, Illinois is a fine and strongly recommended read for any who want a sampling of mid-western philosophy.December 2009Author Michael Martone is the national winner of the 2013 Indiana Authors AwardThis anthology is an unusually insightful one and serves an important purpose in the context of American fiction writing.Google Earth notwithstanding, those of us who live in the Midwest know it is not really a flyover zone but another intriguing planet, and the writers in this volume understand that. They have developed new fictional forms for new life formstheir stories are surprising, funny, moving, challenging, and weird in equal measure. I plan to use this collection in the earthbound classroom and hereby nominate Michael Martone for intergalactic editor-in-chief.

Introduction: In the Middle of the Middle of Middletown
Patty-Cake, Patty-Cake... A Memoir, by Max Apple
Childhood; Detroit; Michigan, by Joel Brouwer
Beginnings, by Robert Coover
Some Notes on the Cold War in Kansas, by Robert Day
The One Marvelous Thing, by Rikki Ducornet
Visions of Budhardin, by Stuart Dybek
River Dead of Minneapolis, by Mark Ehling
Fuck With Kayla And You Die, by Louise Erdrich
All You Can Eat, by Robin Hemley
13 Remotely Related to South Bend, by Lily Hoang
Happy Film, by Laird Hunt
Long Walk, by Sandy Huss