There was blood. And unspeakable pain, which rolled and clenched in hard, burning waves. Sarah spent two days in the bathroom, watching the summer rains through the window and…

  I met Gabe Dove when I was sad and attracting men who liked me sad. There was the jeweler with goopy eyes, the lawyer who overtexted. Men with lotioned…

  The snake is back. It’s in the middle of the living room and it has taken a bite of its tail. It’s eating itself. Or maybe not eating, just...I…

  Spring rains had cut little gullies into the caliche topping beyond the cattle guard. Washed out the soil beneath right down to the hardpan. I got off my bike…

  That last night at home, Michael sat with his father at the fireside, barely an arm’s reach apart, the turf in the hearth between them burning shades of fox-fur…

  Each night at dusk we built our fire in the usual spot, back from the water’s edge, camouflaged by white-barked birches and scraggly pines. We sprawled our bodies across…

  There was no warning when the cattle turned. Just an October day like any other. It was weaning season, and they were peeling the yearlings from their mothers, so…

  I’d just as soon cut his throat as watch him take one more step toward the mall. All things being equal. All things are not equal, so I’ll wait…

  Brandon and I were skulking around in front of the house, doing our best to impersonate respectability, when Mrs. Alvarado finally deigned to appear. I was watching the sky;…

  Simon Bettendorf, a motor-mouth grill cook and chronic history major, had no intention of taking up with a Lead Belly’s server or helping her mother to die, but he…

  Hector and I ride out from the slat-ribbed herd to find the lost cow. Morning lies red against the distant range. As the minutes pass the sky deepens, blue…

  Ok. I killed Dashwani. There is no argument or mitigation. I took the toss from O’Conn, a perfect little underhand flip, put my foot on second, cut a neat…