FOMITE

Praise

Anyone who has read Charles Rafferty’s wonderful poetry knows what high praise this statement is: Rafferty’s short stories are as good as his poems. Rarely have I read work with so much heart and humanity rendered with such lapidary concision. is an absolute gem of a book, flash fiction at its finest, and I will sing its praises (on-key, I hope) at every opportunity. Cast your eyes upon these pages, lovers of literature, and rejoice! 

— Tom Hazuka

 

Charles Rafferty explores the borderlands between husbands and wives, fathers and daughters, first love and stolen affairs. In the suburban landscape of the present, the past is a kind of wilderness: intruding, then receding, like the coyote by the roadside in “Coyote” or birds “with black and perilous wings” in “Death Comes to Parker Grove.” In this fine collection of short stories, Rafferty reminds us of our own wildness, of what we’ve lost and still long for, however tamed we may be. 

— Jessica Treat

 

About the Author

Charles Rafferty has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism. His tenth collection of poetry, The Unleashable Dog, is forthcoming from Steel Toe Books. His stories have appeared widely, including Sonora Review, The Cortland Review, Bound Off, The Fiddleback, Louisiana Literature, and Citron Review. His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Oprah Magazine, The Southern Review, TriQuarterly, Quarterly West, Massachusetts Review, The Literary Review, DoubleTake, and Connecticut Review. Currently, he directs the MFA program at Albertus Magnus College.

 

Interview at The Conium Review