Monday's Meal

The stories in this collection represent a range in topics and styles and feature a wide assortment of individuals who, although diverse, all have in common a singular element—trouble in their lives. That’s what fiction is about—trouble—and short stories have a particular mandate to be about the frailty of the human condition as well as its strength. The author has an affinity for the disenfranchised among us and it is those often heroic people that interest him the most. In these stories he treats them with the sensitivity and dignity they deserve. Praise for MONDAY’S MEAL: “Les Edgerton brings to this short story collection an unerring ear for dialogue and a sure-handed sense of place. He has affection for even his most despicable characters but he never takes the reader past the brink of horrible fascination into a deeper understanding.” —The New York Times Book Review “Les Edgerton is much more than a fiction writer or a story teller. When you read his work, your ears prick up, your eyes go wide, and your spine tingles. You get the sense that Edgerton has been there, lived the lives of his characters, fought their fights, cried their tears, placed their bets, drank their Wild Turkey, smoked their cigarettes. He writes with a stunning accuracy, a convincing authority and a stark reality.” —Vincent Zandri, author of As Catch Can, Permanence, and Godchild “Filled to bursting with writing you can taste. Whether dining on bisque and blackened redfish at an upscale cafe, or eating rank mule meat in a pine board cabin, the characters in Edgerton’s world bite down hard and grind up one another with their back teeth. Monday’s Meal is a most satisfyingly vivid and visceral feast.” —Melody Henion Stevenson, author of The Life Stone of Singing Bird “This collection of 21 unsettling stories will appeal to readers looking for nontraditional contemporary plots with characters living on the fringes of society. Several selections will haunt readers for some time as events often take a morbid twist; others will leave them wondering about the endings.”—School Library Journal