A History of Heartache
Feb 2026 · Melville House
Ebook
240
Pages
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Eligible
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infoThis book will become available on February 10, 2026. You will not be charged until it is released.
About this ebook
A searing debut short story collection set in north Texas, rooted in the rich tradition of Southern short fiction by Breece D’J Pancake and Flannery O’Connor.
The celebrated journalist’s 10 short stories are as vivid and character-driven as his reportage from the battlefronts of the Middle East . . .
Loosely inspired by the 1996 heroin epidemic in the grittier suburbs of Dallas, this gripping collection of short stories — many published previously in leading literary journals — are intimate, honest, and character-driven, and don't shy away from difficult themes.
From protagonists struggling with the effects of alcoholism and unemployment, to neo-Nazi skinheads in Dallas, to conspiracy theories, these various colorful characters are depicted with clear-eyed compassion, as well as moments of resilience and even humor, as they work their way to a transcendence of their current, very American, very Texan, situation.
The celebrated journalist’s 10 short stories are as vivid and character-driven as his reportage from the battlefronts of the Middle East . . .
Loosely inspired by the 1996 heroin epidemic in the grittier suburbs of Dallas, this gripping collection of short stories — many published previously in leading literary journals — are intimate, honest, and character-driven, and don't shy away from difficult themes.
From protagonists struggling with the effects of alcoholism and unemployment, to neo-Nazi skinheads in Dallas, to conspiracy theories, these various colorful characters are depicted with clear-eyed compassion, as well as moments of resilience and even humor, as they work their way to a transcendence of their current, very American, very Texan, situation.
About the author
Patrick Strickland is a journalist from Texas. He’s the author of three nonfiction books on the far right and migration: You Can Kill Each Other After I Leave (2025), The Marauders (2022), and Alerta! Alerta! Snapshots of Europe’s Antifascist Struggle (2018). His reporting has appeared at The New York Review of Books, The Guardian, Time, Al Jezeera, and elsewhere. His fiction has appeared in Epiphany, Pithead Chapel, and the Porter House Review, among others. He was a 2024 de Groot Foundation Writer of Note. He is currently the managing editor of Inkstick Media, based in Athens, Greece.
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