Burning bright : stories / Ron Rash.

Hard Times -- Back of Beyond -- Dead Confederates -- The Ascent -- The Woman Who Believed in Jaguars -- Burning Bright -- Return -- Into the Gorge -- Falling Star -- The Corpse Bird -- Waiting for the End of the World -- Lincolnites.

"In Burning Bright, the stories span the years from the Civil War to the present day, and Rash's historical and modern settings are sewn together in a patchwork of suspense and myth, populated by raw and unforgettable characters mined from the landscape of Appalachia. In "Back of Beyond," a pawnshop owner who profits from the stolen goods of local meth addicts - including his own nephew - comes to the aid of his brother and sister-in-law when they are threatened by their son. The pregnant wife of a Lincoln sympathizer alone in Confederate territory takes revenge to protect her family in "Lincolnites." And in the title story, a woman from a small town marries an outsider; when an unknown arsonist starts fires in the Smoky Mountains, her husband becomes the key suspect."--BOOK JACKET.

Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, 2010