And Dogs to Chase Them

Welcome to the world of Ray Trotter, where ordinary humans are pushed to do things in out-of-the-ordinary ways. Trotter has conjured a world of Southern hyper-reality in And Dogs to Chase Them, his first book of short stories: a good Christian woman who has had enough and so pushes a man down the staircase, "as final as flushing the commode;" a concrete deliveryman who really ought to have double checked the address before he got out of his truck; and a man who man enacts his revenge on the self-declared Queen of the Post Office. But there is much more to these stories than humor, for Trotter has the rare gift to show us the interior lives of people trying to do the best they can, and the often tragic consequences do not dampen our admiration for their best intentions. Trotter treats his characters with honest empathy, and the result is a deeply felt connection to the hopes and memories of our fellow human beings. Through a keen eye for detail and language, Trotter brings to life a world that is at once familiar and deeply odd, and creates characters that stay with a reader long after the book is closed. Trotter's first book has gathered praise from master storytellers: Ron Rash, author of Serena, Nothing Gold Can Stay, and The Caretaker, calls And Dogs To Chase Them "a collection that is at times laugh-out loud funny and other times deeply poignant." George Singleton, author of The Curious Lives of Non-Profit Martyrs and The Half-Mammals of Dixie, says "These are everyday, mostly blue-collar, characters, putting up good fights, skeptical of their situations, and true to their beliefs." Sybil Baker, author of Apparitions and Immigration Essays, says "Set in North Georgia and East Tennessee, these stories sparkle with insight into what it means to be human in a world that is often unforgiving but offers hope."