Night Train: New and Selected Stories, with an Introduction by Amy Bloom - Softcover

'Jones was a master of the short story [and] Night Train will be an amazing discovery for anyone who cares about literature.' Philipp Meyer, New York Times bestselling author of The Son A posthumous and definitive collection of new and selected stories by short-fiction icon and National Book Award finalist Thom Jones, with a stunning introduction by Amy Bloom Thom Jones's stories are high-octane, prose-drunk entertainment. His characters are grifters and drifters, rogues and ne'er-do-wells - some lovable, some not - but each with a voice that never fails to grab you by the collar. They include Vietnam soldiers, amateur boxers, psych ward veterans and an unforgettable adolescent DJ radio host, among others. Perfectly capturing the essence of this icon of the American short story, Night Train showcases the sheer breadth and power of his inimitable stories. 'Bleakly and outrageously comic . . . Reading Thom Jones's fiction is like speeding in an open car: the landscape blurs, the momentum becomes intoxicating -- and then the brakes are applied, with no warning.' Joyce Carol Oates

Thom Jones, who died in 2016, was a National Book Award finalist, O. Henry Award winner, and the author of three story collections: The Pugilist at Rest, Cold Snap, and Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine. He received an MFA from the University of Iowa in 1973 and thereafter worked an array of jobs, from copywriter to janitor, until he was published for the first time, in The New Yorker, in his mid-forties. His stories went on to be published in other magazines such as Harper's, Esquire, Playboy, and Story and were reprinted numerous times in The Best American Short Stories. John Updike chose his story 'I Want to Live!' for The Best American Short Stories of the Century.