{"product_id":"wins-and-losses-stories-paperback","title":"Wins and Losses: Stories - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003ePeter Makuck\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn Makuck's fourth collection of short stories he once again explores the fertile territory of small, rural American towns. With tenderness and clarity, he excavates the mundane surface of everyday lives to reveal compassionate characters who are unexpectedly vulnerable. The stories in \u003ci\u003eWins and Losses\u003c\/i\u003e are set in a car, a courtroom, a university English department, a sports bar, a jetliner, a laundromat. Characters struggle with regret, desire, expectations, and a need to win when loss is inevitable. A high school student whose father was killed in a car crash and who can speak openly only to his girlfriend delivers prescriptions for a pharmacy and learns much about people and values in the course of his deliveries. A lawyer recalls a dubious family friend, an undercover cop, who pressured him as a young boy toward guns and football. A recent widow finds a cardboard box on her front porch only to discover it contains the body of her dog. A young woman takes her mother to a cardiologist and, while in the waiting room, gets into an argument with a wealthy political conservative at great cost to both of them. In the tradition of Cheever and Updike, Makuck's stories give us characters struggling with questions of what really matters.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePeter Makuck\u003c\/b\u003e is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at East Carolina University. He is the author of\u003ci\u003e Long Lens: New and Selected Poems\u003c\/i\u003e and three collections of short stories, including Allegiance and Betrayal: Stories. His poems, stories, and essays have appeared in the \u003ci\u003eGeorgia Review, Hudson Review, Poetry, Sewanee Review, \u003c\/i\u003ethe\u003ci\u003e Nation, \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eGettysburg Review.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 224\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.49 x 8.25 x 5.02 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e September 02, 2016\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47496671985885,"sku":"9780815610823","price":10.75,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0811\/9867\/8237\/files\/1ceZq90kzD9780815610823.webp?v=1771976100","url":"https:\/\/handfulofbooks.com\/products\/wins-and-losses-stories-paperback","provider":"Handful of Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}