"A collection of harrowing and personal stories by the O. Henry Prize-winning author David Means." In this collection of short stories, Means branches out beyond the explorations of violence and trauma with which he is often identified. He prominently displays his sly humor in tales about fatherhood, marriage, a homeless brother, the nature of addiction, and the death of a friend at the hands of a serial-killer nurse. -- adapted from jacket

Recounts the author's efforts to rebuild in the face of a failing literary career and his wife's abandonment for another man, describing how his love for his young son inspired the confrontation of his own painful childhood memories.

A U.S. Air Force test pilot passes up the chance to become an astronaut after his wife gets pregnant against all odds, and as fatherhood consumes him, a sudden tragedy puts his instincts as a father and as a pilot to the test.

The author questions what it means to be a man today in a series of interlinked autobiographical reflections, regrets, and reexaminations, each sparked by an encounter, in the present, that holds some legacy of the past.

"What makes a good father, and what makes one a failure? Does less-is-more parenting inspire independence and strength, or does it encourage defiance and trouble? Kickflip Boys is the story of a father's struggle to understand his willful skateboarder sons, challengers of authority and convention, to accept his role as a vulnerable "skate dad," and to confront his fears that the boys are destined for an unconventional and potentially fraught future....

"A beautiful and utterly original novel about making art, love, and children during the twilight of an empire Ben Lerner's first novel, Leaving the Atocha Station, was hailed as "one of the truest (and funniest) novels. of his generation" (Lorin Stein, The New York Review of Books), "a work so luminously original in style and form as to seem like a premonition, a comet from the future" (Geoff Dyer, The Observer). Now, his second novel departs from...

"Russell Brand explores the idea of mentoring and shares what he's learned from the guidance of his own helpers, heroes and mentors"-- "Describes the impact that a series of significant people have had on the author -- from the wayward youths he tried to emulate growing up in Essex, through the first ex-junkie sage, to the people he turns to today to help him be a better father. It explores how we all -- consciously and unconsciously -- choose guides,...

"A searing volume by a poet whose work conveys "the visceral effect that prison has on identity" (Michiko Kakutani, New York Times). Felon tells the story of the effects of incarceration in fierce, dazzling poems-canvassing a wide range of emotions and experiences through homelessness, underemployment, love, drug abuse, domestic violence, fatherhood, and grace-and, in doing so, creates a travelogue for an imagined life. Reginald Dwayne Betts confronts...

"Things My Son Needs to Know About the World collects the personal dispatches from the front lines of one of the most daunting experiences any man can experience: fatherhood. As he conveys his profound awe at experiencing all the "firsts" that fill him with wonder and catch him completely unprepared, Fredrik Backman doesn't shy away from revealing his own false steps and fatherly flaws, tackling issues both great and small, from masculinity and mid-life...