Patrick Ryan’s first work of fiction is written with such authority, grace, and wisdom, it might be the capstone of a distinguished literary career. In the Florida of NASA launches, ranch houses, and sudden hurricanes, Teresa Kerrigan, ungrounded by two divorces, tries to hold her life together. But her ex-husbands linger in the background while her four children spin away to their own separate futures, each carrying the baggage of a complex family history. Matt serves as caretaker to the ailing father who abandoned him as a child, while his wild teenage sister, Karen, hides herself in marriage to a born-again salesman. Joe, a perpetual outsider, struggles with a private sibling rivalry that nearly derails him. And then there’s the youngest, Frankie, an endearing, eccentric sci-fi freak who’s been searching since childhood for intelligent life in the universe–and finds it. Written with wry affection, and with compassion for every character in its pages, Send Me is a wholly original, haunting evocation of family love, loss, and, ultimately, forgiveness.

Send Me

Literature & Fiction

Ryan, Patrick

United States

The Dial Press

Send Me: A Novel

Random House Publishing Group

For readers of Tom Perrotta and Lorrie Moore, these nine unforgettable stories, all set in and around Cape Canaveral, showcase Patrick Ryan’s masterly understanding of regret and hope, relationships and family, and the universal longing for love. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY St. Louis Post Dispatch • Refinery 29 • Electric Literature The Dream Life of Astronauts balances heartbreak with wry humor as its characters try to make sense of the paths they find themselves on. A would-be Miss America auditions for a shady local talent scout over vodka and Sunny D; a NASA engineer begins to wonder if the woman he’s having an affair with is slowly poisoning her husband; a Boy Scout troop leader, recovering from a stroke, tries to protect one of his scouts from being bullied by his own sons; an ex-mobster living in witness protection feuds with the busybody head of his condo board; a grandmother, sentenced to driver’s ed after a traffic accident, surprises herself by falling for her instructor. Set against landmark moments—the first moon launch, Watergate, the Challenger explosion—these private dramas unfurl in startling ways. The Dream Life of Astronauts ratifies the emergence of an indelible new talent in fiction. Praise for The Dream Life of Astronauts “[Ryan] displays a gift for excavating the dashed hopes and yearnings that lie beneath. He is especially adept at capturing the point of view of children, with a Salingeresque understanding of their alienation, their vulnerability, their keen powers of observation.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times “Quietly commanding . . . A wry and smart collection—a beam of intelligent life from an author who clearly likes to probe the outer edges of the familiar.”—Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air “Ryan is a master of that old-fashioned, captivating storytelling that deceptively reads as effortless. . . . Ryan never actually sends his characters into space; but his orbits of the human heart are enough.”—The New York Times Book Review “Ryan brings a wry sense of intimacy to these dreamers who are always searching for a better life, for something new.”—BBC “Patrick Ryan’s short stories go down lightly—but that doesn’t mean they’re lightweight. In the best of them, Ryan’s transparent prose and seemingly casual tone sneakily ensnare you in tough moments and wryly rueful deflations of the heart and spirit.”—The Seattle Times “You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to appreciate this funny collection of stories set around Cape Canaveral. Moon missions and shuttle launches take a backseat to the earthly predicaments faced by the eclectic cast of Boy Scouts, gangsters, grandmothers and beauty queens.”—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution “There is humanity and heart in each one of these tales, all rendered with nuance and depth that will leave a mark on your thoughts long past the final pages.”—Refinery29 “Patrick Ryan’s characters are people who are a little more beaten down than they know. They are not introspective by default, and yet, due to circumstances, they are forced to look into themselves and find something that, in his own phrase, feels like life.”—Literary Hub “The author illuminates [his] characters with pitch-perfect dialogue and period references that capture the various decades in which the stories take place.”—Publishers Weekly

The Dream Life of Astronauts: Stories

Dial Press Trade Paperback

One of the strangest (and funniest) love triangles ever to hit YA fiction, when a pair of twins (one boy, one girl) both fall for the boy who moves in with them…who may or may not be a vampire. Judy and Kyle Renneker are sixteen-year-old fraternal twins in a rambling family of nine. They have a prickly history with each other and are, at least from Judy's perspective, constantly in fierce competition. Kyle has recently come out of the closet to his family and feels he might never know what it's like to date a guy. Judy, who has a history of pretending to be something she isn't in order to get what she wants, is pretending to be born-again in order to land a boyfriend who heads his own bible study.

Gemini Bites

Teen & Young Adult

Scholastic Press

The Short Book on the "Offer in Compromise," IRS Liens and Levies!

Tax Law

iUniverse

Steady on, 21st century parent. Adolescents, teenagers, young people, are still just people. There is no need to fix, cure, treat or throttle them. In fact, now more than ever they need you to understand, listen, observe and guide so that they can continue their journey from childhood. You are more important in all this than you realise. You are half of the relationship with them -- a half that you may not know very well. Your confidence as a parent will only work properly when you know how your history, attitudes and behaviours really influence the teenager that has to live with you. This book will help you understand: #65533; the most common pitfalls of parenting #65533; the role of rules, regulations and rows #65533; teenagers' relationships with each other #65533; the differences between girls and boys that impact on their teenage years It's time not just to wonder about your child growing up but to actively get involved in the excitement of it too. In doing so, and in learning about yourself, you will figure out how to get the best out of your teenager and enjoy these years together.

You Can't Make Me!: How to Get the Best Out of Your Teenager

Parenting & Relationships

Parenting

GILL MACMILLAN

In Hebrew and Arabic, the words Amen and Amin―the most frequent conclusions of prayers―derive from cognate consonantal roots. The Greek and other versions of the Hebrew Bible continue to use the word Amen; the New Testament follows suit. The basic meaning of Amen or Amin in all three scriptures is the same, a passionate address to God: 'I entrust myself to You; I put my faith in You, I keep faith with You.' It is the cry of a person struggling to grasp and be grasped by God. Amen: Jews, Christians, and Muslims Keep Faith with God examines faith as it is understood by Jews, Christians and Muslims; it does not aim to be a work of systematic theology or a lengthy explication of the contents of different faith traditions. It offers Jews, Christians and Muslims several approaches to faith as a category of human experience open to God: a faithful God who reaches out to grasp the faithful human being at the same time that the faithful human being reaches out to grasp a faithful God. This two-sided faith, divine and human, lies at the center of each faith tradition. The book examines faith as one might examine a gem, gazing at different facets in turn. In this process, Patrick Ryan, a Jesuit who has lived for decades in Africa as well as in the United States, shares the personal reflections of one who has tried to live a life of faith not only in the company of fellow Christians but also in the company of Jews and Muslims, friends for many years. The work as a whole, and each chapter within it, begins and ends with reflections shared with an anonymous but real person who has struggled with faith for all that time and who continues the struggle with faith even today.

Amen: Jews, Christians, and Muslims Keep Faith with God (Islam and Catholic Theology)

Religion & Spirituality

Christian Books & Bibles

The Catholic University of America Press

• Includes biographical information on organized crime members, interdictors, and researchers
• Listings of print and nonprint resources aid in further research

Organized Crime: A Reference Handbook (Contemporary World Issues)

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

ABC-CLIO

Pat Ryan won't offer tips on dieting in his collection of short stories, but The Baseball Diet Book will appease readers' appetites for small-town America's favorite pastime-baseball. From Idaho to Minnesota, Mexico to Panama, Ryan's stories embrace those odd, both humorous and serious, moments in life and portray a reality not many of us know. The Blessed Virgin Mary appears on a Corona Beer sign, two Midwesterners plot to steal a baseball slugged out of Wrigley Field by the famed Babe Ruth, a 400-pound pitcher perfects the unhittable gyroball . . . Each story stretches readers' imaginations into extra innings, until they are lost in timeless of the game itself.

The Baseball Diet Book

Sports & Outdoors

Baseball

Sol Books

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Books by Ryan, Patrick