The worlds in Bradley Owens' stories are madcap, melancholy, and disruptive, sometimes all at once. Vladimir Lenin plays bass guitar in heaven. A young Haitian boy rides to adulthood in a strange, half-frightening journey. A family celebrates a birthday in an unforgettable immersion in Americana. Evocative, funny, depicted in supple, gorgeous prose, these stories have the weight of great emotional depth and the brilliance of perfectly cut stones, reflecting and revealing light.--Erin McGraw, author of The Seamstress of Hollywood Boulevard

It ["A Circle of Stones"] is a beautiful, brilliant story, and it made me cry."--Lorrie Moore, author of Bark and See What Can Be Done

"Stories that are sharp, tender, and truly felt."--John L'Heureux, author of The Medici Boy and A Woman Run Mad

These stories are fearless. They're also deeply humanizing in the way only the best fiction can be. They go everywhere and see everything. The results are always illuminating, and often astonishing. I was sorry to turn the last page.--Tom McNeal, author of To Be Sung Underwater and Goodnight, Nebraska