The Art of the Short Story: Human Stories, Human Truths, Human The Art of the Short Story Connection

Registration not required
Meets in the 1st floor Meeting room

Perfect for busy schedules, each story will be a complete, thought-provoking experience. We’ll read aloud and discuss short stories (15- 20 minutes each). Listen, read, or discuss – make it your own! Bond with neighbors, from high-schoolers and USC Aiken students to retirees, in an inclusive setting while discussing short stories.

The June stories are by author Ron Rash:

The Woman Who Believed in Jaguars According to a review on the National Endowment for the Arts website, “Sometimes the pressure characters face comes not from the outside world but from their own beliefs, fears, and desires, especially if they conflict with the beliefs, fears, and desires of those around them. In The Woman Who Believes in Jaguars, an insomniac visits her local zoo and mistakenly accuses a passing woman of kidnapping a child that has reportedly gone missing. No one knows that the accuser once had a child who lived for only four hours.

Dead Confederates  First published in Shenandoah (Fall 2008). Collected in Burning Bright (Canongate Books, 2012). The main character commits a macabre crime for morally good reasons; he’s a decent man who has fallen into desperate straits. The book “captures the eerie beauty, stark violence, and rugged character of Appalachia in a collection of stories that spans the Civil War to the present day.”  In Dead Confederates, two budding entrepreneurs look to get rich by pilfering uniform buttons and belt buckles from the graves of Civil War veterans to sell to memorabilia collectors. From the outset of the story, it’s clear that the plan will go awry.