Universally Adored and Other One Dollar Stories
Elizabeth Bruce
(Author)
Description
"Exquisite short stories that give me hope." John McNally, author of The Book of Ralph: A Novel
In Universally Adored and Other One Dollar Stories, Elizabeth Bruce gives readers 33 ways of looking at a dollar. Her empathetic, humorous, and disarming embrace of plain-spoken people searching for a way out, charms and provokes. These are bittersweet stories of resilience and defiance.
In "Universally Adored," a color-obsessed artist draws a facsimile of a dollar-a masterpiece universally adored-to win her girlfriend back. While checking for spare change in the laundry, in "Bald Tires" a Tennessee housewife with a malcontent husband finds an unused condom in his Sunday trousers. In "The Forgiveness Man," a runaway teen with a newborn follows a vagabond healer absolving the bedraggled godless through hugs of forgiveness. And in "Magic Fingers, a ladies' room attendant tracked down by her abusive ex finds refuge in a cheap motel with a 1970s era bed massager.
Riffing on the intimate object of a dollar, Bruce's humane short fictions-from a great mashed potato war to the grass Jesus walked on-ring with the exquisite voices of characters in analog worlds.
Product Details
| Publisher | Vine Leaves Press |
| Publish Date | January 30, 2024 |
| Pages | 226 |
| Language | English |
| Type |  Paperback / softback |
| EAN/UPC | 9783988320391 |
| Dimensions | 8.0 X 5.0 X 0.6 inches | 0.5 pounds |
About the Author
Reviews
"A deeply gifted writer." Richard Bausch, Winner, PEN/Malamud & Rea Awards for the Short Story
"Elizabeth Bruce's stories have that rare quality of feeling as though they have always existed, the way the best stories always do. In a lesser writer's hands, the conceit of beginning each story with 'one dollar' might seem like a gimmick, but here they echo Wallace Stevens' 'Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, ' and I found myself eager for what came next, curious to see how each new story amplifies the previous story while also diverging from it, often in dramatically different points of view and styles. These are exquisite short stories that give me hope." John McNally, author of The Book of Ralph: A Novel
"Inventiveness, voice, and vivid characters grappling with life and love pour forth on each page. A remarkable tapestry around a shockingly familiar starting point, this collection brings us new ways of seeing ourselves and the constellations of our closest relationships. It's breathtaking." David A. Taylor, author of Soul of a People: The WPA Writers' Project Uncovers Depression America
"A gifted storyteller, Elizabeth Bruce is at her best here. Keen-eyed and with a great gift for stand-out narratives at whose heart is a profound appreciation of the particular, she takes us on a journey with ordinary people whose lives turn on a dollar. These stories sing with ingenuity. Just how far can one dollar take a person? You'd be amazed." Naomi Ayala, author of Calling Home: Praise Songs & Incantations
"Elizabeth Bruce's stories shine a light on the conflicts--big and small--that we face in life and our struggles to resolve them. She writes thoughtfully and elegantly about the pain and beauty of being alive." Eric Stover, Faculty Director, UC Human Rights Center, Co-Producer, PBS documentary, "Tulsa: The Fire and the Forgotten"
"Elizabeth Bruce's stories are mesmerizing and heart stopping. She has a way of creating so much feeling and tension with so few words. Like her story, "The Bell," they are a real gift." Evelyn Torton Beck, Ph.D., Professor Emerita, University of Maryland Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Editor, Nice Jewish Girls: A Lesbian Anthology
"In Elizabeth Bruce's hands we learn that the answer to grief is kindness. Instead of pandemic, Bruce offers us a contagion of hope in her wonderful, incredibly humane stories." Nick Kocz, Winner, Washington Square Fiction Award, author (as S.M. Thayer), I Will Never Leave You
"This lovely story captures the evanescence of time, the way the smallest moments inform a life, and the chance encounters of memory. The story's heart, the moment of revelation, is beautifully textured." Janet Peery, National Book Award Finalist for The River Beyond the World about "Starry Lashes"
"A beautifully crafted gem glittering with wit and insight." Sarah Pleydell, author of Cologne
"Elizabeth Bruce is the ninja of flash fiction. Her literary precision pierces that tender spot that both stings and satisfies the reader's soul." Joy Jones, author of Jayla Jumps In
"Quintessential Elizabeth Bruce-that rhythm, that wit, that clarity-a song in story form." Kathleen Wheaton, Former President, Washington Writers' Publishing House
"Elizabeth Bruce has the gift of saying more with fewer words, leaving readers everything they need to know while trusting them to assemble the character between the lines." Dana King, author of Penns River and Nick Forte series of crime novels
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