Are We Lucky Yet? — Jane Bradley

"Comedy alongside heartache, these stories croon honky-tonk ballads after closing-time. They wade in loss but keep scanning for a Coast Guard rescue copter. Astute about the nuances of sliding social class, the stories are tough, direct, grimly funny .... The writing is adult: it acknowledges how much has been lost already. But the tone remains fresh with sweet (or bruising) sensation. Every character comes rigged with a crazed belief-as the title suggests-that Luck is still somehow bound this way-after an unexpected delay in another time-zone .... The tales are set in trailer suburbia. But their actions seem played out across the Wal-Mart parking lot's only clover-covered median. Sexual relief can be found, but out near the dumpsters of a closed strip-mall steak house .... The writer's steadying empathy and talent for doom, drive the characters toward reckless chance-takings. This creates a tender suspense as hard to shake as the stories' betraying faith in Luck itself." Allan Gurganus, Citation for Runner Up in The Grace Paley Prize Competition.