April 5: Cara Hoffman – Ruin: Short Stories (PM Press)
Hoffman is one of our most underrated writers. Her novels So Much Pretty, Be Safe I Love You, and Running proved that she was a fearless storyteller of great insight. Ruin is her first story collection and it’s a good introduction to her determination to expose the lives of people struggling with the harsh reality of our culture and social order. Hoffman’s stories are dark but not hopeless; she brilliantly captures the desperation, yearning, and violence that animate her characters in these gritty stories.
