The Same Terrible Storm

The Same Terrible Storm introduces us to a fierce and lyrical writer who, in his depiction of contemporary Appalachian life, is equal parts uncompromising and compassionate, and able to eerily channel a wide spectrum of distinctive voices-coal miners, musicians, pill poppers, snake handlers, writers, marijuana farmers, brutal men and complicated women, knowing children and dangerous elders-all of them filled with yearning, all of them inextricably bound to their time and place. An extraordinary debut collection.

K. L. Cook, author of Love Songs for the Quarantined and Last Call

Sheldon Lee Compton writes stories like his mind is on fire. These are tales of the down but never out, the hard livers who are touched by a grace and dignity that more polite characters wouldn't deign to achieve. This is a testament to the best kind of fiction today-writing from the gut. It's a hell of a debut and one that promises another rough but true voice from the South.

Charles Dodd White, author of Lambs of Men and Sinners of Sanction County

Sheldon Compton is disguised as a mere writer. He's really a wizard of the word, and The Same Terrible Storm is filled with the kind of story-alchemy other writers can only hope for. Smart without being pretentious, portentous without being heavy, these stories can sing you comfortably to sleep on those dark nights of the soul. Get this book.

Rusty Barnes, author of Mostly Redneck