"Jeff Parker is a writer who understands that voice is the doorway to
all true beauty in fiction. Tight, wry, dark, and deeply funny - he is a
master of the hyper-compressed sentence that explodes with more meaning
and nuance than should be possible." - George Saunders, author of
Pastoralia
"Jeff Parker's stories are mysterious, heartfelt, and utterly
captivating. In The Taste of Penney he casually flexes a Voltron-like
combo of writerly gifts: Ron Carlson's mastery of voice, Elmore
Leonard's uncanny ear for dialogue, and Raymond Carver's spare wit. This
collection contains some of the most absorbing and brightly imaginative
stories I've come across in some time." - Davy Rothbart, FOUND
Magazine
"Whether moose legs or tongue tips or sperm counts or pennies lodged
into a throat, Parker disassembles us so compellingly that we no longer
wish to be whole. His inventiveness revises the world as we know it with
audacious wit." - Mary Caponegro, author of All Fall Down and The
Star Café
"Here we have characters in Russian messing up in hilarious ways; taking
care of a cheating girlfriend's pet bird; failing miserably at roadside
tests in front of cops; spraying indoor centipedes with cheap cologne.
Has my life ever been this bad? Nope. Have I ever felt like such a
foreigner in an already-strange land? Not even close. Do I wish that Id'
written these stories? Absolutely. I'm jealous. The Taste of Penny's
the best ride at a spectacular carnival. " - George Singleton, author of
The Half-Mammals of Dixie and These People Are Us.
"These stories are haunting and constantly surprising." - Publishers
Weekly (starred review)
The Taste of Penny agitates the sense in thirteen stories modern and
mischievous. This collection captures love, relationships, and finding
one's way in the twenty-first century.
Jeff Parker is the author of the novel Ovenman (Tin House). His
short fiction and nonfiction have appeared in American Short Fiction,
The Best American Nonrequired Reading, Indiana Review, Ploughshares, Tin
House, The Walrus, and others. He teaches creative writing at the
University of Toronto.
