failure. debuts the work of one of America's brightest, young new writers. Comprised of two novellas and sixteen shorts, this first glimpse of Brooke L. Swenson's work deeply exhibits the personal anxieties and vices of a nation: cowardice, alcoholism, glottony, fear, jealousy. His characters not only show us the most raw and vulnerable parts of themselves, they force readers to confront quelled feelings of their own. Honestly and sternly written, this collection celebrates small victories over oneself, transcending the meaning of self entirely.