The Gunman and the Carnival
“Ms. Gammon, who publishes her fiction with very small presses, deserves to be more widely read…. These stories portray the suffering caused by desire without censure or sentimentality, in a way that might be Zen detachment or might simply be called wisdom.” — Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal, February 7, 2024
Advance praise:
“Here are a handful of dreams crumbled to ash. Actors on the cusp of stardom, who instead of making it, find themselves playing dead bodies and waiting tables. A recovering alcoholic savoring a sense of stability, who gifts herself a birthday walk on the beach only to find a body washed up at her feet. A man and woman who fall easily in love, and then, just as easily, into mutual resentment. What does a person do when their life fails to meet their expectations, when their hopes wilt before they fully bloom? Catherine Gammon’s The Gunman and The Carnival is a collection full of strikingly familiar disappointments and betrayals woven through with an appreciation for moments of beauty amongst the daily degradations of contemporary life. Told with precision and honesty, these stories are richly nuanced explorations of desire, regret, hurt, and hard-earned acceptance.” — Jenny Irish, author of I Am Faithful and Lupine
“In The Gunman and the Carnival, Catherine Gammon mirrors the brightly fractured nature of our lives at the sharp edge of this American moment. Her characters are recognizable in their striving for human connection in our time of despair and isolation—and in their struggle for footing upon a sinking landscape. Stylistically limber and by turns meditative, restless, and moving, these stories bravely attempt to channel what it means to be alive in this world now, and now, and now.” — Lauren Acampora, author of The Hundred Waters and The Paper Wasp.
“Gammon sharply observes her characters, loves them for their flaws and their hopes, and moves them through worlds defamiliarized by her punchy, powerful prose. Reading The Gunman and the Carnival made me revel in the joy and intensity of what a story can show us.” — Gwen Kirby, author of Shit Cassandra Saw
Reviews at The Wall Street Journal, Bridge Eight, West Trade Review, and The Pittsburgh Post Gazette.