Chicken Liver Blues is an inimitable
collection of twelve stories that at times barrels and swerves down rural
backroads kicking up gravel and dust in its wake, and other moments it’s a calm
late night country cruise that soaks up the stars, the moon, and the heavens
while contemplating the meaning of life.
In “Twenty Dollars” a
working-class man whose marriage is on the brink of unraveling is convinced to
go out for another night of drinking, but this time his night out with the guys
changes his life in more ways than one. “Bluesman of the Woods” involves a young
guitar rambler and his desire to make it to the big time. He thinks an old
family friend can help, but the old friend is feeling the effects of a family tragedy
and needs a jumpstart of his own. In “The Letter” a regretful, old writer comes
down from the hills to make his yearly pilgrimage to town to hand-deliver a
birthday letter to his estranged daughter. In the country noir story “Forsaken
Land” Sheriff Randall King is feeling the repercussions of losing his younger
sister and of a deadly shootout, both of which happened one year before. But as
always, the sheriff is waiting with readied guns for whatever trouble comes his
way. “One Step Closer to Heaven” involves a young couple who is convinced that
eliminating all the free-roaming sexual predators of the world will give them
full access through the Pearly Gates. In the horror-flavored “The Man in the
Meadow” a young boy seeks an inhumane course in order to deal with a school bully,
but finds out his chosen tactic is a messy one for all involved.
Ride shotgun on this memorable
journey that looks in on the struggling working-class and other notable
characters who try to make it through life the only way they know how…for good or ill.
