This is not a Norman Rockwell portrait of small-town life. The scenes are not saccharin and sentimental. The protagonists aren't damsels and heroes. They're working people, facing the threat of layoffs, failing health, and the prospect of another day without many choices other than to just keep going. In a world obsessed with influencers, billionaires, and hashtag politics, their stories deserve to be told. Set in the years between 1992-2002, James Alan Gill brings the fictional Matin County to life with stark, lyrical prose in the tradition of Raymond Carver, Denis Johnson, and Larry Brown and a misfit cast of characters trying to find solace, hope, and redemption in the bars, bedrooms, and blacktops of Southern Illinois.