Last Chance for a Slow Dance

Last Chance for a Slow Dance gathers eleven sharp, darkly funny, and quietly devastating stories about endings-of relationships, of childhood, of illusions, of the selves we thought we were. Set largely in the overlooked stretches of American "fly-over" country, with a few detours abroad, these stories trace the choices people make at the edge of who they are and who they might still become.Here, the working-middle-class pressures of debt, inflation, and American striving hum beneath the surface. Suburbs and mid-sized towns become crucibles-compressed, volatile, ready to ignite. A woman daydreams about plane wrecks during an unexpected visit from her ex. A marriage proposal veers into the surreal. A public pool becomes the site of sudden chaos when an older man exposes himself to a young lifeguard.Five interlinked stories follow a jazz musician across the arc of his life as his music grows louder, faster, and finally slips beyond his control. Throughout, the collection moves between the bleak and the buoyant, capturing a weird, tender, unruly America on the cusp of whatever comes next.These are stories of the Far Middle-funny, unsettling, and unexpectedly full of life.