Now Available from Down & Out Books: SHOOTING CREEK AND OTHER STORIES by Scott Loring Sanders

TAMPA, Fla. - March 29, 2017 - PRLog -- Down & Out Books is pleased to announce that SHOOTING CREEK AND OTHER STORIES by Scott Loring Sanders is published this week in trade paperback and ebook formats.

"This is an especially strong collection of short stories," said Eric Campbell, Publisher of Down & Out Books. "I think readers will appreciate the author's uniquely developed sense of character and place in each of them."

About SHOOTING CREEK AND OTHER STORIES …

Dark, gritty, disturbing. Those are the types of characters you'll encounter in the award winning stories within this collection. Tough people in a tough world. But also real people, struggling with difficult decisions when faced with unthinkable circumstances. What happens when you discover a dead body but can't go to the police because of your own dark past? Or your father's dark past? What might a woman resort to when her husband doesn't hold up his end of a bargain? What frightening surprises lie buried beneath the beaches of North Carolina? Or in the desolate hills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains? Or in the swamps of the New Jersey Pine Barrens?

These are stories that are as dark, gritty, and disturbing as the characters who inhabit them, yet there is a pervasive humanness which forces us to empathize. That asks us to understand why people sometimes do what they do. Perhaps that's the reason these stories have been chosen for the Best American Mystery series, honored by The Atlantic Monthly's Student Writing Contest, not to mention various other awards and honors. Perhaps that's why these stories will stick with you well after the reading has commenced. Always gnawing at you, unrelenting, asking, "What would you have done in that situation? Would you have behaved any differently?"

Praise for SHOOTING CREEK AND OTHER STORIES …

"This excellent collection transcends any genre label. Ultimately, these stories are mysteries of the human heart's darkest regions. Scott Sanders is the real deal and deserves a wide and appreciative readership." —Ron Rash, The New York Times bestselling author and winner of the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award.

"Each story is a gem in this dark, atmospheric, treasure box of a collection. Scott Loring Sanders digs deep and peers unflinching into the frail, twisted human heart, revealing its many facets and glittering truths. A stellar collection!" —Lisa Unger, The New York Times bestselling author of The Red Hunter.

"In Shooting Creek and Other Stories, you'll find ne'er-do-well husbands, drunken fathers, tough-as-nails women and mothers, and murderously unfaithful wives in a rogue's gallery of dangerous characters in bad situations. These are stories that will keep you up late reading and thinking, stories that mute the concerns of the everyday world while turning up the volume on thrills and excitement. This is a collection that will fire the imagination while raising moral and ethical issues, which is the true heart of Scott Sanders's fiction. If you're looking for something good to read, this is the book you want." —Ed Falco, author of The New York Times bestselling The Family Corleone.

"Scott Loring Sanders's stories are always rich in atmosphere, and his characters are often presented with difficult moral dilemmas. He's an author who prefers a degree of ambiguity to an easy resolution, and that makes his work thought-provoking, as well as unpredictable. Readers in search of well-written, complex suspense tales won't go wrong with a Sanders collection!" —Janet Hutchings, Editor-in-Chief, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.

Meet the Author …

Scott Loring Sanders is the author of two novels, The Hanging Woods and Gray Baby, as well as a forthcoming collection of essays. His work has been included in Best American Mystery Stories and noted in Best American Essays. He's a frequent contributor to Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and has also had stories published in Thuglit, All Due Respect, and many other crime/mystery publications. His essays have appeared in Creative Nonfiction, Sweet, and other literary journals. After living in Virginia for twenty-five years, he now resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts and teaches Creative Writing at Emerson College and Lesley University.

About Down & Out Books …

Founded in 2011, Down & Out Books (DownAndOutBooks.com (http://www.downandoutbooks.com/)) is an independent publisher of award-winning literary and crime fiction based in Tampa, Florida. For more information about the book, or to request an interview with the author, contact lance@downandoutbooks.com.