Rory’s Not That Guy

Rory’s Not That Guy and Other Tales from Middle America springs from a Protean imagination (supported by an impressively various craft repertoire). William Burleson sometimes sounds like a Damon Runyon for the 21st century, but is sometimes a lot more experimental than that. The satirical edge always lurking somewhere pulls together these stories’ picture of life in our time.
—Madison Smartt Bell, author of All Souls’ Rising and a National Book Award finalist

From an amuse-bouche to a three-course meal, Burleson’s stories are tasty and satisfying and proof positive the inner worlds of quiet souls, folks one might be tempted to dismiss, explode in riotous, hotdish, hot mess. Often painfully hilarious, these stories are futuristic, contemporary, and nostalgic all at once. Rich in detail, rife with compelling characters, Burleson’s collection is a joyful triumph.
—Karen Lee Boren, author of Secret Waltz, Mother Tongue, Girls in Peril, and Ways Home

William E Burleson’s Rory’s Not That Guy taps into a vein of trope-ridden Americana within all of us, not just those of us living in middle America, but the deft skill he possesses and flexes is that he is able to do this without irony, prejudice, or a reliance on stereotype. As he thoughtfully holds the mirror up to the flaws that gnaw at the American spirit, he doesn’t necessarily offer solutions, but he does offer humor, humility, and a surefire helluva ride.
—Joanna Acevedo, author of the short story collections Small Cruelties and Unsaid Things