In an Uncharted Country showcases award-winning stories about ordinary men and women in and around Rugglesville, Virginia, as they struggle to find places and identities in their families and the community. They experience natural disasters, a sun-worshipping cult, Vietnam flashbacks, kidnapping, addiction, and loss. The book’s opening story, “Flood, 1978,” follows Hank, who comes to understand his father’s deep sense of grief over the death of his wife. Later, in “Hand-painted Angel,” Hank’s sons see the family spinning apart as their father ages and family secrets are disclosed. In “The Clattering of Bones,” Walt mourns the collapse of his marriage after the loss of a child, but in the collection’s title story he recognizes his emotional need for family. The concluding story, “Red Peony,” unifies the collection, as many of the characters from other stories come together for a tumultuous 4th of July Celebration.

About the Author

Clifford Garstang is the author of the prize-winning short story collection In an Uncharted Country and What the Zhang Boys Know, winner of the Library of Virginia Award for Fiction. His is also founding editor of Everywhere Stories: SHort Fiction from a Small Planet, an anthology series from Press 53. His work has appeared in numerous literary magazines including Bellevue Literary Journal, Blackbird, Cream City Review, Shenandoah, Tampa Review, and Virginia Quarterly Review, and has received Distinguished Mention in the Best American Series. He has received fellowships from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, and the Sewanee Writers' Conference. He holds an MFA in Fiction from Queens University of Charlotte and is the co-founder of Prime Number Magazine. He is also the author of the popular literary blog Perpetual Folly.

Other Books by this Author