Once praised by the Atlanta Journal Constitution as the unchallenged king of the comedic Southern short story, George Singleton is back with a new collection of 17 rollicking, brilliant and absurd stories.
The protagonists in “The Curious Lives of Nonprofit Martyrs” are loosely linked — they’re often overeducated and white, working bizarre jobs that are “nonprofit” in some way or another. In “Dispensers,” a man and his wife have their faith in the world restored when they encounter the gray-bearded men of Veterans Against Guns in North America and their ill-considered acronym. “Cock Rescue” features a restaurant owner who runs into trouble when his wife starts a well-intentioned but poorly named rooster rescue.
“Every time I write a book of short stories, I try to think of some kind of theme, so I said, ‘well let’s write a bunch of stories about people in the nonprofit sector,’” Singleton said, speaking by phone from his home in Spartanburg.
Those organizations range from hilarious to obscure to the very odd. STITCH offers free yarn and knitting lessons to the unemployed. PUBES is a gardening nonprofit, Providing Urban Blooms Each Spring. There’s Cartographers Without Borders, devoted to updating obsolete maps in rural public schools, and POSSUM, short for People Opposed to Southern Supremacists United Militia.
“All of my stories are about characters doing the best they can with what they have,” Singleton said. “They’re walking around, scratching their heads, trying to figure out what the heck is going on in the world.”
Many of his stories also start out the same way.
“Usually I have this little voice in my head … that says the first line of the story,” he said. “I’ll just hear something like, ‘Nowadays, Ms. Starling would be fired for what she did.’ And I’ll hear that little voice in my head, and I’ll say, ‘where’s that gonna go?’ And there it goes.”
“The Curious Lives of Nonprofit Martyrs” is Singleton’s 10th book of short stories. He’s also written one novel – appropriately titled “Novel” – and has a book of essays coming out in November.
Join Singleton for a “Books Over Drinks” event 7:30-9 p.m. Sept. 6 at M.Judson Booksellers in downtown Greenville. Tickets are $30 and include admission, a cocktail and a copy of the book. Visit mjudsonbooks.com/events for more information.
