Donald Lystra's first novel, Something That Feels Like Truth, was the winner of the 2009 Midwest Book Award for fiction. This volume gathers a bracing selection of short stories by Lystra that are cut from the same cloth as his highly acclaimed novel. The stories in Something That Feels Like Truth confound expected plot turns, and Lystra develops his characters patiently and naturally, bringing them into convincing and honest actions. Every plot point in every story here holds an integral part in the imbuing of its beauty and meaning. You can also tell Lystra has read a lot of Hemingway and Chekhov: and that he aspires to be an inheritor of their effectively concise tradition. But there's a touch of Cheever in Lystra's stories as well: what that master storyteller did for the suburbs of New York, Lystra does for the Midwest.

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These stories are infused with Hemingway mythos. An accomplished writer, Lystra understands his craft and the places he describes.

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Lystra draws the bleak, beautiful landscape of the Great Lakes region in quick, sharp strokes, and brings its inhabitants to life with compassion and tenderness.

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Lystra is a discerning observer of the human condition and a deft communicator of the myriad ways in which best intentions may not always achieve satisfying results. Fans of Richard Russo's and Richard Ford's short fiction will find a kindred spirit in this stellar collection of masterfully crafted gems.