Drift and Swerve

by Samuel Ligon

Ligon's second story collection is a tightly crafted series about a girl wandering the United States, seeking not to find but to escape herself.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

180 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2009

About the author

Samuel Ligon is the author of two novels—Among the Dead and Dreaming and Safe in Heaven Dead—and two collections of stories, Wonderland, illustrated by Stephen Knezovich, and Drift and Swerve. He's co-editor, with Kate Lebo, of Pie & Whiskey: Writers Under the Influence of Butter & Booze. His stories have appeared in The Georgia Review, Prairie Schooner, The New England Review, Post Road, Okey-Panky, Alaska Quarterly Review, Gulf Coast, New Orleans Review, and elsewhere. His essays appear in the Inlander. He’s the editor of Willow Springs and the artistic director of the Port Townsend Writers’ Conference. He teaches at Eastern Washington University in Spokane.

Reviews

[ipsit · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this collection of sharp, unforgettable stories, Ligon’s wayward American men and women slog through cities like Providence and Orlando and are always looking for something else, something not quite attainable. Ligon’s work is sometimes called bleak, but there is great humor and hope and humanity in these stories.
“Cleavage” starts:
It is summer again and the breasts rise up everywhere, calling out to me, demanding my rapt, empty attention. Every woman over fifty has disappeared as the various bare portions of breasts present themselves, tops here, sides over there, a trophy set at the beach unwrapped and bronzing. Carla watches me watch and I try to restrain myself, but they are everywhere before me, and even a quick glance or a longer glance is a sign of my restraint.

It’s horrible.

The way Ligon captures this conflicted narrator’s predicament, from the fragile relationship to a family tragedy, is classic storytelling.

[Krys · Rating 5 out of 5]

You should read these short stories and watch yourself begin to identify with and care deeply about punks who are doing all the wrong stuff for all the wrong reasons and who are out there making your world a harder place to live, and who--because of these stories--you will start to love.

[Sean Lovelace · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong collection here. I was just impressed how these stories pulled me in, tugged me into the pages. Gritty stuff, drugs and sex and car screeching tires galore. I kept thinking Flannery O'Connor with a mix of Donald Goines. Read this book!

[Diana Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ligon's stories are gritty and intense, but they've also got humor and heart. I am especially in love with the stories about Nikki, a wild girl who's hell bent on survival.

[kacie · Rating 3 out of 5]

favs: “Vandals.” “Something Awful.” and “Drift and Swerve.”

[Philip Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ligon's prose is frenetic and staccato, layering one detail of his characters lives upon the other so deftly that where the intersections happen you can only intuit the harmony before you notice and by the time you are content you are shaken deeply by the explosions that do occur. Then, before you can react, you are carried on by the next, inevitable current. These stories presage some of the characters due up in his next novel and I for one can hardly wait.

Philip Swanstrom Shaw

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of gritty stories and lots of heartache, my favorite stories were Vandals (about a man who gets revenge on some young hooligans), Something Awful (where a Truth or Dare type game gets ugly), and Cleavage (self explanatory). Sometimes the dialogue in his stories gets muddled but that can be forgiven when the rest of his prose is so charged up with electricity.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not usually a short-fiction fan but I loved every single page of this book. The stories were nervy, sad/funny/horrifying, action-packed, and the dialogue was dead-on right. I heard Sam Ligon read two of these stories at Elliott Bay Bookstore and my insides shivered a little, in a good way.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection. Liked best: Something Awful, Arson, and Vandals.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, excellent collection.