FORSAKEN LAND: SELECTED STORIES brings in fifteen stories by Jeremy Perry from his books Hard Luck, Chicken Liver Blues, and other online publications. In this collection, you'll dive headfirst into the underbelly of a fringe society in rural America that often forces many to live by their own rules. These are people who live in an environment saturated with drugs, crime, and other evils. This culture believes you need to get what you can, while you can, before the forsaken land comes calling. These are stories of crime, rural noir, and hillbilly gothic.
KING OF THE COUNTY - Sheriff Randall King has been arresting members of the White family since he began wearing his brown uniform many years ago. This time, the hard-drinking, unorthodox sheriff who's been known to enforce his own kind of law has his sights set on the no-good Nathan White, a small-time drug dealer whom King suspects of murdering his little sister.
THE WAY OF THE CULTURE - Jesco Morgan is a bare-knuckle fighter who's trying to survive in the poverty-stricken town of Uproar. The southern Indiana town, filled with drug dealers, run-down neighborhoods, and people living off food stamps and disability checks, is the place that Jesco has always called home. When his ailing mother wants him to go out and buy her drugs with his fight winnings, the reluctant Jesco agrees, but the good son's nurturing ways are met with dire consequences.
THE FIGHT - A once imprisoned biker returns to his hometown to witness a backwoods, bare-knuckle brawl.
CRANKED - Joe Spray is a small-time drug dealer who's caught in the middle of a fiery love triangle. When he is forced to choose between his two love interests, he quickly finds himself conspiring to commit murder on the other woman.
LOOKING FOR ACTION - A wild night out on the town filled with sex, drugs, and gambling seduces the characters in this short story.
BLAZE OF GLORY - Bobby Earl is a local criminal looking to pull off one last job and go down in history just like a western outlaw from yesteryear. Although his partner is reluctant and thinks the job is a bad idea, Bobby Earl is steadfast to go down in a blaze of glory no matter the cost.
TWENTY DOLLARS - Kurt is a working-class guy whose marriage is on the brink of unraveling, and his frequent nights out at the bar aren't helping his situation. When a co-worker convinces the reluctant Kurt to go out again, this time, his night out with the guys changes his life in more ways than one.
FORSAKEN LAND - Sheriff Randall King is feeling the repercussions of losing his younger sister and of a deadly shootout, both of which happened one year earlier. But as always, the sheriff is waiting with readied guns for whatever trouble comes his way.
ONE STEP CLOSER TO HEAVEN ? A young couple is convinced that eliminating all the free-roaming sexual predators of the world will give them full access through the Pearly Gates.
