Iowa Short Fiction Award Love, Dirt

From the intimate confines of a Nebraska farmhouse to the bustling streets of South America, the characters of Love, Dirt traverse uneasy spaces in search of human connection. A closeted teen on a trip to Chile hides in his parents' bedroom to avoid being caught fooling around with a local boy. An elderly couple attempts to scale a volcano, wrestling with their own physical limitations and an unbearable loss in their past. A father becomes convinced that a daycare has swapped his toddler with a near-identical imposter. The public relations industry of Las Vegas is at first amused and then scandalized by a businesswoman's ability to divine people's birthplaces and childhood experiences just by listening to them speak. And a son's long-deceased parents return to life as fumbling, inept zombies who are more nuisance than threat. In these and other stories, Bruce Johnson's bold, thought-provoking debut explores how we are shaped by the narratives that we craft for ourselves and others.