These compelling stories offer a detailed look at a part of
the country many Americans only glimpse through an airplane window from 30,000
feet—the small towns of the rural Midwest. The characters here—struggling to raise children and build a better future, or just to escape their past; searching
for connection on social media and longing for the glory days of youth, even as
they put on pounds and lose hair; good citizens, and criminal—populate a
landscape of emotional peaks and valleys far more varied and interesting than
the flat physical terrain they inhabit. They are the people we’ve left behind
when we moved to the city, or the people we’ve become. They are us.
"Fierce, tender, and movingly midwestern, these are the stories one saves for special occasions; the third date, the fourth beer, the seventh inning stretch, and in the case of Ryan Elliott Smith a timeless first book. What a wonderfully bracing debut."
― Paul Beatty, author of The Sellout, winner of the Man Booker Prize
"Stories of the Midwest, of heartbreak, of growing pains. Ryan Elliott Smith is equal parts charming and wise, a writer to watch."
― Rebecca Makkai, author of The Great Believers, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize
"I loved Fly Over This for its funny,
clear-eyed, unflinching portrait of the Midwest. In beautiful, clean prose,
these eight stories offer first-person vignettes that feel poignant and
truthful and real. Ryan Elliott Smith’s is a fresh and already essential new
voice."
― Lindsay
Hunter, author of Eat Only When You’re Hungry
"Ryan Elliott Smith is a storyteller of the old tradition—someone
who charms, dismays, upends and thrills, not in spite of life's jagged
complexities, but because of them. His debut collection Fly Over This brims
with American yearning and human anguish, in a distinctive voice that'll
mesmerize. I loved it."
― Matt
Gallagher, author of Youngblood and Empire City
