Egg Heaven: Stories

Fiction. Showing a distinctly un- glamorous side of Southern California, these lyrical short stories are set in run-down diners and other neighborhood eateries with names that range from the prosaic (Breakfast) to the whimsical (Egg Heaven). In one place they offer only chicken pot pie, all day, every day. In another, they serve you what they think you need—order pancakes, you might get a BLT. Waitresses, cooks, and customers collide, coexist, sometimes offer comfort along with grilled cheese sandwiches or chorizo- scrambled eggs. The stories feature lost mothers, runaway mothers, mother- substitutes; daughters fleeing their old lives and waiting to build new ones. Men and women worn down with disappointment still manage to form connections with each other, share moments of joy. These are lives on the margin, portrayed with respect and compassion.

"Parks is a master of the short story... [She] connects us all with the poetry of the human experience."—Foreword Reviews

"Robin Parks is a skilled and elegiac storyteller. The stories in EGG HEAVEN are as tough as their terrain, but also mournful, surprising, and vivid."—René Steinke, author of Friendswood

"Parks's compassion for her characters bleeds through the wreckage of their lives; we are presented, ultimately, with a picture of healing and hope."—Gina Ochsner, author of The Necessary Grace to Fall and The Russian Dreambook of Color and Flight

"In Robin Parks's characters, in these finely wrought stories, we find a simple and decided and unflinching dignity and courage."—Thomas E. Kennedy, author of The Copenhagen Quartet

"This engaging collection... will reward any short fiction reader who picks it up."—Booklist

"Illuminates a world entirely its own, its authenticity built upon the subtle, vital gesture."—Kenyon Review