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Set against extraordinary events, such as the Three Mile Island accident, the Challenger Disaster, and the Kennedy assassination, these stories personalize history through a juxtaposition between large and small tragedies and the unflinching desire to find insight within and redemption from weakness and shortcoming.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49896516813073,"sku":"CIN1935978888G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52401849172241,"sku":"NLS9781935978886","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53110207807761,"sku":"NIN9781935978886","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1935978888.jpg?v=1764845387"},{"product_id":"darkness-call-book-gary-fincke-9780807168905","title":"The Darkness Call","description":"In these essays, Gary Fincke combines a journalist's relentless investigations into the darkest corners of the human condition with an academic's love for arcana. In one essay, almost forgotten homeopathic recipes from the pantries of Pennsylvania Dutch country are interwoven with the panicked absurdities of elementary school health classes in the 1960s. In another, old case files of small town murders intertwine with meditations on all the fears, large and small, that accompany parenting. In The Darkness Call, Fincke plumbs the depths- child abuse, violence, illness, grief- not for their sadness but for moments of courage, hope, empathy, and light.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50366304125201,"sku":"CIN0807168904G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51007927222545,"sku":"NIN9780807168905","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0807168904.jpg?v=1762598558"},{"product_id":"after-the-locks-are-changed-book-gary-fincke-9781622882601","title":"After the Locks Are Changed","description":"After the Locks are Changed showcases Gary Fincke’s ability to not only write in multiple points of view, but to also locate and ground stories in places as varied as Los Angeles, small-town Pennsylvania, rural Appalachia and New York City. From straight-forward narratives to ones that are braided, associative, and multi-voiced, this veteran writer continues to write unflinching stories about American life.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51041104724241,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51041107935505,"sku":"NIN9781622882601","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":53179876507921,"sku":"NGR9781622882601","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1622882601.jpg?v=1751023928"},{"product_id":"mussolini-diaries-book-gary-fincke-9781947175297","title":"The Mussolini Diaries","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51057219240209,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51057221632273,"sku":"NIN9781947175297","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52685553467665,"sku":"NLS9781947175297","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1947175297.jpg?v=1751251323"},{"product_id":"corridors-of-longing-book-gary-fincke-9781949790726","title":"The Corridors of Longing","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the appropriately titled \u003cem\u003eThe Corridors of Longing\u003c\/em\u003e, a wide variety of otherwise ordinary people anxiously face crucial choices. Personal trauma, anger, frustration, sexual desire, cultural shifts, work, and an assortment of other common issues are deepened and made singular, even in these very short stories, by the sharp focus of close observation. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn settings and situations that range from mid-20th century to the present, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, friends and enemies alike are given unique voices. The heart of each story is found quickly and followed until something beyond the apparently familiar is made surprising, yet genuine. Despite their imperfections, the characters, through their struggles with understanding, reach moments of tolerance and sometimes, through perseverance, obtain compassion and even love.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAbove all, despite how brief these stories are, they are nuanced and subtle. Instead of heroes and villains, there are characters who are complicated, with few exceptions, in less than a thousand words. In other words, they carry the weight of being human with varying degrees of success and failure. 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Groups of distinctively individual poemsalternate with long poem sequences that range fromone based upon the difficulties of genius to one thatcontemplates the wondrous things that literally fall fromthe sky to the tile sequence, a meditation on the desirefor permanence.  As Robert Cording, author of Against Consolationand Common Life says, “Gary Fincke finds the wordsfor that lone, long labor of our lives that shapes who webecome and readies us for those moments when the`possibility of happiness\/surprise[s] us.’ He combinesthe empathy of Philip Levine for our ordinary livesand the thinking intelligence of Carl Dennis. His greatgift, like Levine’s and Dennis’, is the way he so casuallyconnects his own life to those worlds, his poems alwaysconvincing the reader with their intelligence, with theirsubtle wit and humor, and with their deep feeling asthey simultaneously strive for a history of permanenceand comically acknowledge our human failures.”","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51253011284241,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51253012234513,"sku":"NIN9781622881116","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1622881117.jpg?v=1763473036"},{"product_id":"room-of-rain-book-gary-fincke-9781940425207","title":"A Room of Rain","description":"The narratives throughout Gary Fincke's sixth collection of short stories contain newsworthy events that are chronicled secondhand: the shooting of a policeman, the murder of a house flipper, the firing of a teacher for punching a violent student, the accidental drowning of a gay man in a flood, and a fire somewhat accidently set by a juvenile smoker in a school.  Despite these surprising events, the narrator of each story is an ordinary person caught up in the action but preoccupied by other things, whether zombie movies, collecting unusual words, the oddity of other people's sexual habits, or what to do in retirement.   These shocking incidents become both central and peripheral to the narrative, as Fincke portrays the fluctuating emotions and self-protective reflections of fathers, sons, and husbands, creating a world where individuals rarely understand each other, yet still arrive at moments of compassion, tolerance, perseverance, and familial love.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52341292499217,"sku":"NLS9781940425207","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52757051998481,"sku":"NIN9781940425207","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781940425207.jpg?v=1764843065"},{"product_id":"out-of-sorts-book-gary-fincke-9781943665938","title":"The Out-of-Sorts","description":"The new and selected stories in this collection, written over a period of thirty years, are firmly entrenched in the culture and people of rust belt cities and rural Appalachia.   These stories are often set against large, significant events like the Cold War, Vietnam, and the Kent State shootings, but are always uniquely local. A mother fends off the police by brandishing copperhead snakes. A woman cares for the dog of an alleged double murderer. A husband who has lost his job works at trying to save his wife from a debilitating phobia.   This extensive collection by Gary Fincke, an accomplished poet and writer of fiction, gives rise to ordinary people living lives made fascinating by attention to the particulars of voice, place, and character. With precise language, surprising imagery, and sharp, evocative dialog, these stories deepen beyond the oddities of their characters, who are scarred and defeated by circumstance and choice, but also attain moments of grace, compassion, and generosity of the spirit.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52475542667537,"sku":"NLS9781943665938","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52756523024657,"sku":"NIN9781943665938","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781943665938.jpg?v=1764844024"},{"product_id":"after-arson-book-gary-fincke-9781963695212","title":"After Arson","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52539382202641,"sku":"NLS9781963695212","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52758236627217,"sku":"NIN9781963695212","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781963695212.jpg?v=1760684659"},{"product_id":"necessary-going-on-book-gary-fincke-9781950413973","title":"The Necessary Going On","description":"\u003cp\u003eMore Emily's. 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The book opens with narratives taken primarily from childhood and then, divided by long poem sequences, moves to adulthood and confrontation with the identity we acquire through close relationships and the pressures of our appetites, finally ending with what reads as a universal prayer of redemption. Writing Letters for the Blind presents the reader with visions of this world and all its beauty and sordidness, joy and disappointment. This poet reports the breaking news just in from the heart and soul, and the body as well.My father has taught me the beatitudes of sight, Fincke tells us, always aware of what we owe to those who brought us here. He stays up through the starry darkness in the insomnia of one who feels it his duty to pay passionate attention, a poet engaged in the basic defense of simple things.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52692438810897,"sku":"NLS9780814251201","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780814251201.jpg?v=1762341931"},{"product_id":"vanishings-book-gary-fincke-9781622880744","title":"Vanishings","description":"Vanishings is a stunning collection of autobiographical narratives that propel us into the life and mind of a literary genius.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52752201318673,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52752201875729,"sku":"NIN9781622880744","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781622880744.jpg?v=1763560764"},{"product_id":"for-now-we-have-been-spared-book-gary-fincke-9781639821938","title":"For Now, We Have Been Spared","description":"\u003cp\u003eWritten during the first three Covid Years, For Now, We Have Been Spared is a collection of complex sequences and carefully constructed shorter poems that reflect the uncertainty of living through a pandemic-not only in terms of the immediate threats to the body, but also the tectonic shifts in how we perceive the nature of existence itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe opening sequence-a sustained, metaphorical meditation on the devastation caused by the multiple deaths of a friend's sons, sets a tone of elegiac reflection that runs throughout the collection. 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Near tragedies are paired with simple joys; sickness is mirrored by health; coming-of-age is followed by poems immersed in the experience of aging.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese are poems that carry the weight of decades of observation and experience. Their subjects range from the commonplaces of domestic life to the public realm of politics. What binds all of them together is their grounding in sensory detail. Extended narrative is present in nearly every poem. The subtle cadences of prose poetry also make their presence felt. These poems are set in particular, recognizable places and populated by everyday people who find themselves confronting trying circumstances. Always, though, hovering at the edge of perception, there remains the possibility of redemption and grace.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52752579821841,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52752580280593,"sku":"NIN9781639821945","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"sorrows-book-gary-fincke-9781622883110","title":"The Sorrows","description":"Gary Fincke's The Sorrows explores the human dynamics, gone wrong and right, of family, of loss for women who never 'said they needed their husbands to come back from the dead,' of the ghosts that populate the world.  There are filthy people in the world of sorrows, collecting porn and drinking beer; racist and sexist, dangerous and blind despite the disasters.  Yet, the grotesque often brings the saints through the darkness to redemptive light, and Fincke is adept at guiding his reader toward such consolation.  After all, the reader is 'someone who needed me.  Or, at least, a presence, a voice.'","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52778402808081,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52778402840849,"sku":"NIN9781622883110","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781622883110.jpg?v=1763928276"},{"product_id":"amp-d-book-gary-fincke-9780870137297","title":"Amp'd","description":"Set against a backdrop of aggressive rock, frenzied fans, moshing, stage diving, crowd surfing, security brutality, and occasional outright violence, 'Amp'd' follows four years in the life of Gary Fincke's son Aaron, a rock-and-roll guitarist.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52956897640721,"sku":"CIN0870137298G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780870137297.jpg?v=1766161556"},{"product_id":"sorry-i-worried-you-book-gary-fincke-9780820345017","title":"Sorry I Worried You","description":"In these twelve intelligent tales, seasoned poet and story writer Gary Fincke reconciles lost hope and quiet despair with small blessings and ultimate redemption.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53218264219921,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53218264252689,"sku":"NLS9780820345017","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780820345017.jpg?v=1773921214"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-gary-fincke.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}