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West of Destry
If Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio and Larry McMurtry’s The Last Picture Show had a slightly disturbed child, its name might be West of Destry. Set in the fictitious town of Yonder, which sits in the vast emptiness of West Texas, the interconnected stories of this collection introduce us to a community of souls as stubborn and enduring as the land itself, a community doing its best to endure as it both begrudges and defies the world that’s leaving it behind.
“If every story is a map of a world, then Kevin Grauke proves an expert cartographer. In West of Destry, Grauke renders small-town Yonder, Texas into vivid existence, where its high school football team and albino taxidermist unfold like an ethnographic survey, its pink house and charred dance hall emerge as a topographical portrait, and the quiet heartbreaks of its past press against its restless present to leave behind an imprint of what endures. Together they form a sort of lyrical star map that unfolds across an endless West Texas sky and brilliantly illuminates a place made real outside our imaginations long after the final page.”
–Jonathan Danielson, author of The Lowest Arizona Stories
“Reminiscent of McMurtry’s best small-town Texas tales, Kevin Gruake’s West of Destry is a hootnanny of a read! Like a Texas-sized version of Donald Ray Pollard’s Knockemstiff, Gruake’s stories examine small town life in the quirky hamlet of Yonder, Texas. Gruake’s wonderfully crafted stories are populated with characters who crackle with charm, wit, grit, and a generous dollop of sass. I enjoyed the hell out of this book."
–JD Clapp, author of Poachers and Pills
“Yonder, Texas, is the kind of place that’s a ‘certain sort’s last resort,’ a small West Texas town where you can still see the stars at night, and where the traffic lights swing and creak on high-strung wires above the dust-covered streets. But in the masterful hands of Kevin Grauke, Yonder is also the kind of place where a vividly rendered cast of characters—including a football coach, an albino taxidermist, a professor’s widow, and a peeping tom—take turns occupying center stage in Grauke’s fantastic new collection of linked stories, West of Destry. Alternating longer pieces with flash vignettes, Grauke writes elegantly and generously about Yonder’s citizens, mapping the human geography of West Texas as skillfully as Tim Gautreaux’s Southeast Louisiana and George Singleton’s South Carolina. West of Destry is a marvelous collection of stories, and one of the very best of the year.”
–John Waddy Bullion, author of This World Will Never Run Out of Strangers
“These characters are complex, nuanced, and often audacious in their love (or deep hatred) of their neighbors and the place they call home. At times, deeply disturbing, and at times, wickedly funny, from the very first page, these stories will hit you like a blue norther and linger like the remnants of a dust devil long after you’ve finished reading...Or, to put it another way, this shit is sadder than a George Jones dead-baby ballad, more fucked-up than a Hank Williams Jr. love song, and darker than the B-side of a David Allan Coe single. In other words, it’s damn near perfect.”
–Jeffrey Utzinger, author of The Risk Involved
Cowboy Jamboree Press
good grit lit.
“If every story is a map of a world, then Kevin Grauke proves an expert cartographer. In West of Destry, Grauke renders small-town Yonder, Texas into vivid existence, where its high school football team and albino taxidermist unfold like an ethnographic survey, its pink house and charred dance hall emerge as a topographical portrait, and the quiet heartbreaks of its past press against its restless present to leave behind an imprint of what endures. Together they form a sort of lyrical star map that unfolds across an endless West Texas sky and brilliantly illuminates a place made real outside our imaginations long after the final page.”
–Jonathan Danielson, author of The Lowest Arizona Stories
“Reminiscent of McMurtry’s best small-town Texas tales, Kevin Gruake’s West of Destry is a hootnanny of a read! Like a Texas-sized version of Donald Ray Pollard’s Knockemstiff, Gruake’s stories examine small town life in the quirky hamlet of Yonder, Texas. Gruake’s wonderfully crafted stories are populated with characters who crackle with charm, wit, grit, and a generous dollop of sass. I enjoyed the hell out of this book."
–JD Clapp, author of Poachers and Pills
“Yonder, Texas, is the kind of place that’s a ‘certain sort’s last resort,’ a small West Texas town where you can still see the stars at night, and where the traffic lights swing and creak on high-strung wires above the dust-covered streets. But in the masterful hands of Kevin Grauke, Yonder is also the kind of place where a vividly rendered cast of characters—including a football coach, an albino taxidermist, a professor’s widow, and a peeping tom—take turns occupying center stage in Grauke’s fantastic new collection of linked stories, West of Destry. Alternating longer pieces with flash vignettes, Grauke writes elegantly and generously about Yonder’s citizens, mapping the human geography of West Texas as skillfully as Tim Gautreaux’s Southeast Louisiana and George Singleton’s South Carolina. West of Destry is a marvelous collection of stories, and one of the very best of the year.”
–John Waddy Bullion, author of This World Will Never Run Out of Strangers
“These characters are complex, nuanced, and often audacious in their love (or deep hatred) of their neighbors and the place they call home. At times, deeply disturbing, and at times, wickedly funny, from the very first page, these stories will hit you like a blue norther and linger like the remnants of a dust devil long after you’ve finished reading...Or, to put it another way, this shit is sadder than a George Jones dead-baby ballad, more fucked-up than a Hank Williams Jr. love song, and darker than the B-side of a David Allan Coe single. In other words, it’s damn near perfect.”
–Jeffrey Utzinger, author of The Risk Involved
Cowboy Jamboree Press
good grit lit.
227 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 11, 2025
1 person want to read
About the author
Kevin Grauke
4 books22 followersKevin Grauke's stories have appeared in such publications as Fiction, The Southern Review, Five Chapters, Hayden's Ferry Review, Story Quarterly, Quarterly West, Blue Mesa Review, and Third Coast, amongst many others. He also regularly reviews fiction for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Born and raised in Texas, he now lives in Philadelphia with his wife and two children. He teaches at La Salle University.
Born and raised in Texas, he now lives in Philadelphia with his wife and two children. He teaches at La Salle University.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 22, 2025
These stories look at life in Yonder, Texas, where oddball characters with stubborn charm and flinty determination show up and, at turns, bring us humor, heartbreak, and hometown moments of isolated (and shared!) humanity. Author Kevin Grauke makes sure the reader is in good hands, keeping us riveted throughout this quick read. Each story offers curious and engaging opening lines, ongoing momentum, and strong finishes, interconnected masterfully. Grauke knows how to create believable dialog and vivid description. As a reader, I want to say simply that it's beautiful work, but it’s more than that. This story collection is credible, observant, and powerful. It is a world all its own. Yonder doesn’t reside *back* in my memory of reading the book. Instead, it’s present and alive in my mind. I’m looking forward to hearing how other readers respond to it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review