She Throws Herself Forward to Stop the Fall

In She Throws Herself Forward To Stop The Fall, everyone is still in college, even though they are too old for college. The women in these stories work at the mall, work in bars, work in restaurants. They are middle-aged and live at home. They want to be writers. They want to be cops. Their boyfriends smoke crack and get lost. Their dads work in factories. Their grandfathers die without warning. Nothing is safe but everything will be fine. Go to class. Grab a cigarette. Pick up a broom. These are the stories of dreams and the endless work people do to survive.

"There are writers who understand America and there are writers who understand an American most writers don't write about. The short-money, low-end, no expectations, working class just-skating-by America is the one Dave Newman lays bare. Readers will hear echoes of Raymond Carver, Daniel Woodrell and Denis Johnson, but in the end, Newman earns a place in his own pantheon."—Jerry Stahl, author of Permanent Midnight

"Fucking god, the stories in this collection cracked me up and broke my heart and made me want to write again. Newman's voice is singular, so loving and full of real life, but as I read the stories I was reminded of Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson. This is the kind of writing that stays with you long after you've turned the last page."—Misti Rainwater-Lites, Author of Bullshit Rodeo and Clown Gravy