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Twelve timeless Ozarkian tales of those on the fringes of society

Daniel Woodrell is able to lend uncanny logic to harsh, even criminal behavior in this wrenching collection of stories. Desperation-both material and psychological-motivates his characters. A husband cruelly avenges the killing of his wife's pet; an injured rapist is cared for by a young girl until she reaches her breaking point; a disturbed veteran of Iraq is murdered for his erratic behavior; an outsider's house is set on fire by an angry neighbor.

There is also the tenderness and loyalty of the vulnerable in these stories-between spouses, parents and children, siblings, and comrades in arms-which brings the troubled, sorely tested cast of characters to vivid, relatable life.

Daniel Woodrell lives in the Missouri Ozarks near the Arkansas state line. His five most recent novels were selected as New York Times Notable Books of the Year, and Tomato Red won the PEN West Award for the Novel. Two novels have been adapted as major motion pictures: Woe to Live On, filmed in 1999 by Ang Lee as Ride with the Devil, starring Tobey Maguire and Skeet Ulrich, and Winter's Bone, a 2010 film accepted to the US dramatic competition category at the Sundance Film Festival.

Leslie Bellair is a voice-over artist, stage and film actor, trained singer, and certified speech-language pathologist. Her voice can be heard on the iPhone application Diss Crazy!, the online game Back to the Cubeture 2, various audio books published for Audible, Inc., Carina Press, and Oxford Press, as well as the short animated Christmas movie An Elf's Story. Her professional musical theater work in the Atlanta area has greatly contributed to the characterizations and versatility she brings to the voice-over mic.