Aerialists: stories

Intro; Praise for Mark Mayer's Aerialists; Half Title; Dedication; Title Page; Epigraphs; Contents; Strongwoman; Aerialists; The Evasive Magnolio; Twin; The Wilderness Act; The April Thief; Solidarity Forever; The Clown; The Ringmaster; Acknowledgments; A Note on the Author; Copyright;"Mark Mayer writes with a humorous, wistful elegance. His stories are singular, as detached and intimate as dreaming."--Marilynne RobinsonWelcome to the sublime circus of Mark Mayer's Michener-Copernicus-winning debut, aerialists, a fiercely inventive collection of nine stories in which classic carnival characters become ordinary misfits seeking grandeur in a lonely world. Under the luminous tent of Mayer's prose, we see P.T. Barnum's caravan remade: A young misogynist finds a confidante in a cable-TV strongwoman. A realtor for the one percent invokes his inner murder clown. A skin-and-bones mathematician and his bearded wife plot revolution. A friendless peach farmer holds a funeral for a beloved elephant. And a model-train hobbyist prepares to throw his miniature world in the trash. The circus has always been a collection of American exaggerations-the bold, the beautiful, the freakish, the big. aerialists finds these myths living in the everyday. Mayer's deftly drawn characters illuminate these small-scale spectaculars, and their attempted acts of daring and feats of strength are rendered with humor, generosity, and uncommon grace.