The bestselling author "offers up lean, deftly composed short-shorts that seem effortless but inflict a surprising amount of mayhem considering their size" (Brian Evenson, O. Henry Award–winning author). Like a gut punch, like a lightning strike, nearly seventy pieces of flash fiction in this expanded edition—featuring twenty previously uncollected tales, including ten original stories—from Stephen Graham Jones showcase the visceral bite of his prose and scope of his vision. From bungee jumpers to truck drivers, from childhood memories to orgies, these are vignettes of the extraordinary moments that make up ordinary days. In "Animals I've Known," a golden retriever surrenders to the sensory pleasure of his waterfowl prey. A father ignores years of warning signs leading up to a tragic day at the beach in "Seafood," while a burger joint serves up a heaping portion of nostalgia on a man's lunch hour in "Solemn Burger." A moment of connection opens up a future of terrifyingly endless possibility in "The Sadness of Two People Meeting in a Bar," and in "When I'm Alone I Count Myself," a man has to live by a strict set of rules to keep his fragile world from crumbling around him. States of Grace is "a lightning-fast read, and yet each piece feels as fleshed-out and dense as a novel, with SGJ often spanning decades and a wide range of emotions in no time flat" ( LitReactor).

スティーヴン・グレアム・ジョーンズは、削ぎ落とされた言葉の背後に感情の奔流を隠す稀代の書き手です。本作に収められた掌編の数々は、一閃の光のように読者の魂を貫きます。日常の暴力性や救済を「内臓を抉るパンチ」のような鋭利な文体で描き出す手腕は、まさに短編文芸の真髄です。 数ページの枠に数十年もの歳月や深遠な孤独を封じ込める、その濃密な文学性は驚嘆に値します。平凡な一日が非凡へと変貌する瞬間を鮮やかに切り取る筆致は、短い物語が長編小説一冊分に匹敵する破壊力を持ち得ることを鮮烈に証明しています。