R. Shoemaker
Ryan Shoemaker
BEYOND THE LIGHTS: STORIES
"What impresses me most about this collection is the enormous range of exhibition here. Ryan Shoemaker moves effortlessly from brilliant comedic pieces to stories of deep emotional resonance. He is a talent to reckon with, and enjoy."
T.C. BOYLE, author of The Terranauts and Tortilla Curtain.
"Beyond the Lights will haunt you long after you've read it. Shoemaker is genius at writing ambiguity, examining why and how people make choices that aren't necessarily the right ones to make.We know these characters well because Shoemaker provides the mirror, revealing a sharp reflection. This is an engrossing and thoughtful collection for our times."
DANA JOHNSON, author of Elsewhere, California and In the Not Quite Dark
"Ryan Shoemaker's characters are often wrestling with blind spots, and they are not always the most sympathetic because of this, but he is so skillful at allowing each person his humanity. Every story here is its own journey about growth, in a memorably thoughtful and convincing way."
AIMEE BENDER, author of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
EXCERPTS AND ONLINE STORIES
BIO
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Ryan Shoemaker’s fiction has appeared in Santa Monica Review, Gulf Stream, Juked, Booth, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, among others. His short story collection Beyond the Lights, published by No Record Press, was a Black Lawrence Press St. Lawrence Book Award semifinalist and an Association for Mormon Letters finalist for Short Fiction Collection. He is an Assistant Professor of English at Southern Utah University.
Press
Guest Post for the Association for Mormon Letters: An Introduction of Beyond the Lights