The Art of Departure — Craig Lancaster

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AS QUANTUM PHYSICS AND THE ART OF DEPARTURE (2011)

A basketball coach gets caught between his team, his family, and the expectations of a town with a thirst for winning. A traveling salesman, stranded far from home, explores the dark corners of his life on a late-night bus ride. A prison inmate clings to his dignity and self-righteousness in a place where everything else is stripped away. A teenage runaway finds unexpected shelter. Mismatched lovers flail away from each other.

Craig Lancaster's debut collection of short fiction, originally released in 2011 to enthusiastic reviews, mined his home terrain of Montana and took on the notion of separation--from comfort, from ideas, from people, from security. Now updated with two new short stories and a selection of even shorter fiction, as well as a an introduction from the author, this collection goes deep into farms, cities and suburbs, into love and despair, into what motivates us and what scares us, peeling back the layers of our humanity with every page.