What actions must a boy take to become a man? One night he's a razor to clear his first growth of beard, while another could employ it as a weapon, both actions might be fit in right of passage. And these dazzling works of fiction, 17 masters of promises Spence explore what it means to be a son, what it means to be a father, what it means to be a man. Spain and continents and decades, the stories are set in interconnected worlds but instantly recognizable and astonishly believable, from long stretches on a dry Texas Highway to a bleakland and alley, from the claustrophobic confines of an after hours backroom poker game to run down just in manhattan. Amid card sharks, revolvers, shallow graves, the characters who inhabit these stories try strive to discover what is right, what will give them dignity, what will earn them respect. Whether at the age of 10 or 35, I will come face to face with the situation that will really separate the men from the boys.

ISBN: 9780060762858