Then We Saw the Flames
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A01=Daniel A. Hoyt
allegorical storytelling
atmospheric travel narratives
Author_Daniel A. Hoyt
border-crossing experiences
Category=FYB
character-driven suspense
characters confronting chaos
contemporary short fiction
crises of belonging
cross-cultural character journeys
cultural clashes and reckonings
darkly humorous episodes
disquieting moments of revelation
dreamlike plot twists
emotionally charged storytelling
emotionally raw scenarios
emotionally volatile worlds
eq_anthologies-novellas-short-stories
eq_bestseller
eq_fiction
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
existential searching
father-son complexity
fractured family dynamics
global settings in literature
gritty modern fables
human fragility illuminated
hybrid realism
inner-child symbolism
intimate explorations of identity
intimate portrayals of vulnerability
introspective male protagonists
lyrical yet unsettling tales
magical-realist undertones
moral ambiguity in storytelling
narrative experiments
offbeat Americana landscapes
poetic depictions of struggle
precarious life choices
profound interpersonal tension
psychological doubling
psychological tension in prose
reflections on hope and ruin
search for meaning amid turmoil
small-town strangeness
spiritual unease beneath daily life
stories of displacement
surreal narrative elements
symbolic landscapes
uncanny domestic intrusions
uncanny encounters in fiction
unexpected turns of fate
unmoored wanderers
violence at the margins
volatile human connections
Product details
- ISBN 9781558496996
- Weight: 191g
- Dimensions: 139 x 213mm
- Publication Date: 28 Apr 2009
- Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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In this freewheeling debut collection, Daniel A. Hoyt takes us from the swamps of Florida to the streets of Dresden, to the skies above America, to the tourist hotels of Acapulco, to the southwest corner of Nebraska. Along the way, we encounter a remarkable group of characters all struggling to find their footing in an unsettling world. Sometimes magical, sometimes realistic, sometimes absurd, these stories reveal people teetering on the dangerous edge of their lives. In ""Amar,"" a Turkish restaurant owner deals with skinheads and the specter of violence that haunts his family. In ""Boy, Sea, Boy"", a shipwrecked sailor receives a surreal visitor, a version of himself as a child. In ""The Collection"", a father and son squander a trove of bizarre and fanciful objects. And in ""The Kids,"" a suburban couple grasp for meaning after discovering children eating from their trash. In each of these stories, characters find themselves challenged by the political, cultural, and spiritual forces that define their lives. With a clear eye and a steady hand, Hoyt explores a fragile balance: the flames - fueled by love, loss, hope, and family - shed new light on us. Sometimes we feel warmth, and sometimes we simply burn.
DANIEL A. HOYT teaches in the English Department at Baldwin-Wallace College. His short stories have appeared in the Kenyon Review, Meridian, Quarterly West, Indiana Review, and other literary magazines.
