Kingdom of the Sun

Set in southwestern New Mexico, the stories in James Terry’s stunning debut explore the joys, insecurities, and failures of memorable characters as they attempt to connect with—or disconnect from—others around them. The elderly landlady of the Darling Courts apartments hires a reclusive handyman who suffers from a fear of water, and the pair forms an unlikely bond. A worker’s unscrupulous plan to build a road in the middle of the desert is threatened by a lonely pregnant woman living in a trailer parked directly in his path. Overcome by nostalgia, a married trucker making the California run from Waco to Los Angeles takes a truck-stop waitress to the Deming drive-in theater with disappointing results. Together, these surprising stories uncover how our environment manifests itself in our everyday lives.