Catherine Gammon is author of the novels Isabel Out of the Rain, Sorrow, China Blue, and The Martyrs, The Lovers, and of the early story collection Beauty and the Beast. Her work has been supported by fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, among others, as well as by residencies at Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Yaddo, and Djerassi. After growing up in Los Angeles, Catherine lived in Berkeley, and later in Ohio, Iowa, and Massachusetts before moving to New York, where she worked for The New York Review of Books. She left New York to join the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh in 1992 and later returned to California for training and ordination at San Francisco Zen Center’s Green Dragon Temple/Green Gulch Farm. She lives again in Pittsburgh, with a garden and a cat.

“In The Gunman and the Carnival,Catherine Gammon mirrors the brightly fractured nature of our lives at thesharp edge of this American moment. Her characters are recognizable in theirstriving for human connection in our time of despair and isolation—and in their struggle for footing upon a sinkinglandscape. Stylistically limber and by turns meditative, restless, andmoving, these stories bravely attempt to channel what it means to be alive inthis world now, and now, and now.”     -          Lauren Acampora, The HundredWaters“CatherineGammon’s TheGunman and The Carnival is a collection full of strikingly familiardisappointments and betrayals woven through with an appreciation for moments ofbeauty amongst the daily degradations of contemporary life. Told with precisionand honesty, these stories are richly nuanced explorations of desire, regret,hurt, and hard-earned acceptance.”      -          Jenny Irish, I AmFaithful and Lupine“Gammon sharply observes her characters,loves them for their flaws and their hopes, and moves them through worldsdefamiliarized by her punchy, powerful prose. Reading The Gunman and the Carnival made me revel in the joy and intensity ofwhat a story can show us."      -          Gwen E. Kirby, Shit Cassandra Saw

• ConentsEudora Loved Her Life3A Vampire Story 15Dangerous 25In Absence27Agency35Claudine 39Cloudy with a Chance of Rain51Pandemic Dreams53Cul-de-Sac59Pack Rat, All Will Be Well67Nathanael West Died Unknown89Stardust95Invisible Woman Dancing in a Cage105Cat Sitting for a Ghost117In the future perhaps he will have another chance129Buffalo137Endnotes 141Acknowledgments143

Catherine Gammon is author of the novels Isabel Out of the Rain, Sorrow, China Blue, and The Martyrs, The Lovers, and of the early story collection Beauty and the Beast. Her work has been supported by fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, among others, as well as by residencies at Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Yaddo, and Djerassi. After growing up in Los Angeles, Catherine lived in Berkeley, and later in Ohio, Iowa, and Massachusetts before moving to New York, where she worked for The New York Review of Books. She left New York to join the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh in 1992 and later returned to California for training and ordination at San Francisco Zen Center’s Green Dragon Temple/Green Gulch Farm. She lives again in Pittsburgh, with a garden and a cat.

“In The Gunman and the Carnival,Catherine Gammon mirrors the brightly fractured nature of our lives at thesharp edge of this American moment. Her characters are recognizable in theirstriving for human connection in our time of despair and isolation—and in their struggle for footing upon a sinkinglandscape. Stylistically limber and by turns meditative, restless, andmoving, these stories bravely attempt to channel what it means to be alive inthis world now, and now, and now.”     -          Lauren Acampora, The HundredWaters“CatherineGammon’s TheGunman and The Carnival is a collection full of strikingly familiardisappointments and betrayals woven through with an appreciation for moments ofbeauty amongst the daily degradations of contemporary life. Told with precisionand honesty, these stories are richly nuanced explorations of desire, regret,hurt, and hard-earned acceptance.”      -          Jenny Irish, I AmFaithful and Lupine“Gammon sharply observes her characters,loves them for their flaws and their hopes, and moves them through worldsdefamiliarized by her punchy, powerful prose. Reading The Gunman and the Carnival made me revel in the joy and intensity ofwhat a story can show us."      -          Gwen E. Kirby, Shit Cassandra Saw

• ConentsEudora Loved Her Life3A Vampire Story 15Dangerous 25In Absence27Agency35Claudine 39Cloudy with a Chance of Rain51Pandemic Dreams53Cul-de-Sac59Pack Rat, All Will Be Well67Nathanael West Died Unknown89Stardust95Invisible Woman Dancing in a Cage105Cat Sitting for a Ghost117In the future perhaps he will have another chance129Buffalo137Endnotes 141Acknowledgments143

Catherine Gammon is author of the novels Isabel Out of the Rain, Sorrow, China Blue, and The Martyrs, The Lovers, and of the early story collection Beauty and the Beast. Her work has been supported by fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, among others, as well as by residencies at Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Yaddo, and Djerassi. After growing up in Los Angeles, Catherine lived in Berkeley, and later in Ohio, Iowa, and Massachusetts before moving to New York, where she worked for The New York Review of Books. She left New York to join the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh in 1992 and later returned to California for training and ordination at San Francisco Zen Center’s Green Dragon Temple/Green Gulch Farm. She lives again in Pittsburgh, with a garden and a cat.

“In The Gunman and the Carnival,Catherine Gammon mirrors the brightly fractured nature of our lives at thesharp edge of this American moment. Her characters are recognizable in theirstriving for human connection in our time of despair and isolation—and in their struggle for footing upon a sinkinglandscape. Stylistically limber and by turns meditative, restless, andmoving, these stories bravely attempt to channel what it means to be alive inthis world now, and now, and now.”     -          Lauren Acampora, The HundredWaters“CatherineGammon’s TheGunman and The Carnival is a collection full of strikingly familiardisappointments and betrayals woven through with an appreciation for moments ofbeauty amongst the daily degradations of contemporary life. Told with precisionand honesty, these stories are richly nuanced explorations of desire, regret,hurt, and hard-earned acceptance.”      -          Jenny Irish, I AmFaithful and Lupine“Gammon sharply observes her characters,loves them for their flaws and their hopes, and moves them through worldsdefamiliarized by her punchy, powerful prose. Reading The Gunman and the Carnival made me revel in the joy and intensity ofwhat a story can show us."      -          Gwen E. Kirby, Shit Cassandra Saw

• ConentsEudora Loved Her Life3A Vampire Story 15Dangerous 25In Absence27Agency35Claudine 39Cloudy with a Chance of Rain51Pandemic Dreams53Cul-de-Sac59Pack Rat, All Will Be Well67Nathanael West Died Unknown89Stardust95Invisible Woman Dancing in a Cage105Cat Sitting for a Ghost117In the future perhaps he will have another chance129Buffalo137Endnotes 141Acknowledgments143