Richard Russo is famous for making "small town" feel as big as America, an insular neighborhood as full of funky people as SoHo or SoMa. But now, for the first time, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist turns his epic voice to the short form.
In a new collection called "The Whore's Child," Russo digs into darker emotions and motivations, using the concise form that's leant itself to the curiosities and talents of some of America's bleakest writers; Raymond Carver, Flannery O'Connor, Denis Johnson.
In the imaginative expanse he recently filled with "Empire Falls" Russo carefully crafts miniatures, character reductions, and pointed plot concentrates. As one reviewer put it, it's like watching a homerun hitter go for the squeeze bunt.
