Charlotte Readers Podcast: Gary Powell

Author Gary Powell is a recovering lawyer who describes his day job as stay-at-home dad, cook, housekeeper, and handy-man. He has been writing and publishing his stories for many years. His work can be read online and in literary journals including The Thomas Wolfe Review, Fiction Southeast, Atticus Review, Best New Writing 2015, and Pisgah Review 2017 and 2018. His first novel, Lucky Bastard, was published by Main Street Rag. Gary reads from his new book, Getting Even and Other Stories, a collection of short stories and flash fiction.

In this episode, Gary reads a story from Part I, City with a Heart, which refers to Elkhart, Indiana, a gritty, blue-collar manufacturing town in and around which these stories take place. He reads two stories from Part II: Sons and Daughters of the Plains, which are set in the larger Midwest and explore characters in transition between jobs and family situations. His final story is from Part III:  Southland, which includes stories set in the New South. Gary infuses his stories with humor and dark realism.

The readings – in order:

Home Free

In this short story, teenagers Billy and Pete Cantrell bust out windows in an old vacant factory, run from the police, and steal beer and a truck from their mother’s latest sleep-over friend, while trying to make sense of the world around them.

“When glass shatters, I feel the sound in my heart like those Fourth of July fireworks that burst with a dull thud but leave no streamers.”

[The rest of the story is on the show]

Fatherland

In this flash fiction piece, a father is in transition, driving hours across a rolling prairie to be with his children and returning by the same route, exhausted, “by the light of a madman moon.”

“All week, the two little girls wage middle-school wars, jammed into lockers by pimply-faced bullies and forded to each cafeteria food. Friday afternoons, he drove from Kansas City to Des Moine to pick up what was left of them out front of the house he used to live in. The man who lived there now drank a beer and nodded from the stoop, the ex-wife nowhere in sight.”

[The rest of the story is on the show]

So Over You

In this short story, a group of men regularly meet to play tennis and have a routine to grab a few beers afterwards. The conversation always turns to women and somehow, without realizing it, the guys open up about how they feel.

“Dave is neck deep in his career, has kids in school, and is going through a divorce. Blake’s never been married but wants to be. As for kids, he always grins and says he has none of whom he’s aware. Sometimes Eddie shows, sometimes not. He’s single and says he likes it that way. He attributes his unreliability to ADHD, which goes untreated now that he’s off his dad’s health insurance. I’m older than the other guys and happily married to a younger woman. That’s how I describe myself—semi-retired and happily married.”

[The rest of the story is on the show]

With Child

In this short story, the couple who is unexpectedly pregnant accepts an invitation to Thanksgiving dinner from the husband’s blue-collar co-worker who lives in a trailer with his wife and two kids somewhere near Lake Norman but way off the beaten path. The story is full of humor, both light and dark. And when everything that could go wrong does go wrong with this Thanksgiving meal in the eyes of the wife, it changes the course of the relationship forever.

“We needed to talk about the baby. Our first Thanksgiving as a married couple found us away from home and family and unexpectedly pregnant. Bobby and Faye’s invitation relieved some of the tension.”

[The rest of the story is on the show]