Dog on the Cross

The focus of this striking and intense collection of stories is a small Pentecostal community in Oklahoma struggling with faith and lapses into sin during the week that a fifteen-year-old faith healer comes to town.From a preacher who loses his ability to speak in tongues and begins to fake it; to a man intent on suppressing his sinful love of his best friend even as he can think of nothing else; to a teenage boy who struggles with the temptation of a young girl; to a grandmother who...
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The focus of this striking and intense collection of stories is a small Pentecostal community in Oklahoma struggling with faith and lapses into sin during the week that a fifteen-year-old faith healer comes to town.From a preacher who loses his ability to speak in tongues and begins to fake it; to a man intent on suppressing his sinful love of his best friend even as he can think of nothing else; to a teenage boy who struggles with the temptation of a young girl; to a grandmother who will stop at nothing to make her grandson famous; their stories and others compose the debut collection of a young and original writer.In his careful articulation of faith and doubt, sin and self-delusion, allegiance to the church and self-aggrandization, Gwyn--raised Pentecostal by his grandparents--crafts stories that he is uniquely qualified to tell. We're pleased to be launching the career of one of the most distinctive new voices on the literary landscape.