Not Normal, Illinois: Peculiar Fictions from the Flyover

Product Description

Do Midwesterners have a peculiar way of looking at the world? Is there something not quite right about the way they see things? For such a normal place, the heartland has produced some writers who take a most individual approach to storytelling. And the result―to the delight of readers everywhere―has been stories that reveal the mystery, joy, and enchantment in the most ordinary and incidental moments of life. These 33 exceptional tales showcase the peculiarly wonderful vision of some of the region’s best-known or soon-to-be-celebrated writers. Each invites its readers to see the world through different eyes and see it anew.

Review

The Midwest can be derided as being the middle of nowhere, but Not Normal, Illinois makes a stong case that it’s actually in the middle of everywhere. The ordered grids of farm land you see as you gaze out the window of a plane flying over this vast, unpopulated region are a deception―look closer and you’ll see immense literary talent sprouting from and feeding off this fertile loam.Spring 2010 ―
raintaxi.com

Michael Martone succeeds in corralling a wonderful array of tales, one that would make all Midwest folk, snapping the straps on their overalls and sniffing the apple pie on the ledge, right proud.May/June 2010, Vol. 31, No. 4 ―
American Book Review

Not Normal, Illinois is a fine and strongly recommended read for any who want a sampling of mid-western philosophy.December 2009 ―
Library Bookwatch

Review

This anthology is an unusually insightful one and serves an important purpose in the context of American fiction writing. — R. M. Berry ―
Florida State University

About the Author

Michael Martone is Professor of English at the University of Alabama–Tuscaloosa. He is the author of seven works of fiction, including The Blue Guide to Indiana and Michael Martone; two collections of fiction, The Flatness and Other Landscapes and Unconventions: Attempting the Art of Craft and the Craft of Art; and an anthology, Double-wide (IUP, 2007); and editor of six volumes.