Winner of the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, two O. Henry prizes, and a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, Rash brilliantly illuminates the tensions between the traditional and the modern, the old and the new south, tenderness and violence, man and nature. Though his focus is regional, the themes of Rash's work are universal, striking an emotional chord that resonates deep within each of our lives.Something Rich and Strange showcases this acclaimed master's artistry and craftsmanship in thirty-two stories culled from previously published collections and two available for the first time in book form: "Outlaws" and "Shiloh." Each work of short fiction demonstrates Rash's dazzling ability to evoke the heart and soul of this land and its people—men and women inexorably tethered to the geography that defines and shapes them. Filled with suspense and myth, hope and heartbreak, and told in language that flows like "shimmering, liquid poetry" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution), Something Rich and Strange is an iconic work from an American literary virtuoso.

    As Mason and Lavada set forth to recover themselves, they remain entrenched in the rural and rugged landscape that bore them and their haunted histories. This moving story tells of the families we’re borne into, the families we make for ourselves, and how tightly woven are the ties that bind.“Charles Dodd White’s writing is dark, gothic and steeped in a voice that is all his own. A Shelter of Others confronts what it means to be human.” Frank Bill, author of Donnybrook“It would be easy to draw comparisons to Harry Crews, Ron Rash, or James Salter, but to do so would overlook a voice uniquely his own. Charles Dodd White whittles language down to its most beautiful form. His prose has been pared to poetry. Simple as that.” David Joy, author of Where All Light Tends To Go

    Dispensing Justice with her unique brand of magic.

    Her mother has always been fragile and unsteady, but her lack of interest in the infant signals a new emotional deterioration. While Claire struggles to keep every one safe, her father is too distracted by his beautiful wife to recognize the impending dangers. Claire is left largely on her own to save her family. Her outsized responsibility brings about mesmerizing, and shocking consequences---and trigger events that will shape Claire's life forever.

    Her second collection broadens these investigations in poems that examine the shape-shifting quality of memory, as seen in folktales that have traveled across oceans and through centuries, and in how we form recollections of our own lives. An opening sequence presents contemporary ghost stories:  men who gather at dawn in the gas station parking lots of small towns; the mountain lion that paces the edge of a receding tree line. A middle section draws connections between Appalachia and Latin America, places that share qualities of biological and cultural richness—places that are threatened by modernization. A final sequence retells the stories of earlier poems, posing questions about how we construct our landscapes and frame our views.

    Each evening Lyn would come home to a farm full of animals and the unpredictable Cec. She could be brilliant, insightful, engaging. She could also turn on Lyn, suddenly and cruelly.After eight-and-a-half years, just as Lyn had decided to leave and was beginning to plan her exit, Cec became seriously ill. Almost overnight Lyn found herself in the role of caregiver at Cec’s hospital bedside.“Lyn’s a terrible nurse,” Cec would tell visitors and Lyn knew she was right. Lyn was awkward and jumpy, her timing invariably wrong. She felt trapped, and furious at having to stay, guilty for wanting to flee.Lyn spent long days and nights at Cec’s bedside, imagining how death would come and contemplating a relationship gone wrong. “Impossible to set this right,” Lyn thought, as she lay curled on a small cot in Cec’s room.One last time Cec surprised her.Cease is a blunt and honest account of experiences that are usually kept hidden. Told with a frank and intimate voice, Cease offers an unsentimental look at the inner workings of a uniquely difficult relationship that is revealed for what it is – more human than strange.