Grown Ass Men

Dan Crockers Grown Ass Men is a collection of stories about characters falling apart. Full of Crockers exquisite gallows humor brilliantly rendered details and vibrant characters this collection of stories sings with the gruff voices of the broken grown ass men at its core. Like one of Springsteens stark acoustic albums these stories cut through nerve and bone in search of something real.-James Brubaker author of The Taxidermists Daughter.Daniel Crockers characters all wait for the next paycheck which is always a little too far away. And they spend their waiting time wishing for a well-lit piece of luck. Crocker knows the world of packed dive bars and nearly empty apartments. He writes about parking lot fights and road trips about friends who are like family and about sisters who cant help falling down. His stories have the same precision empathy and visceral energy as his poems. Like the late Raymond Carver he is a beer seasoned storyteller in his poetry and a blue collar poet in his prose.-Mike James author of Jumping Drawbridges in TechnicolorIn Grown Ass Men Daniel Crocker welcomes us into his world full of weary men and women who keep going even when theyve given up. Spouses come and go and the alcohol flows and stops but never for long; dogs are run over and efficiently buried the blood left on the shirts of the living. His prose is spare and unflinching and true and I will revisit these characters to keep me company when Im wondering how the hell Ill make it through another day. -Mary Miller author of Biloxi