Tunneling to the Center of the Earth

Stories

By: Kevin Wilson

Narrated by: George Newbern, Karen White, Michael Crouch, Jenna Lamia, Sophie Amoss, Allyson Ryan

Audiobook performed by George Newbern, Karen White, Michael Crouch, Jenna Lamia, Sophie Amoss, and Allyson Ryan

A debut short story collection in the tradition of writers like Kelly Link, Aimee Bender, and George Saunders—complex, imaginative, and refreshingly original—now on audio as part of Ecco’s “Art of the Story” Series, and with a new introduction from the author.

Kevin Wilson’s characters inhabit a world that moves seamlessly between the real and the imagined, yet they are grounded in the emotional truths of the characters’ experiences. “Grand Stand-In” is narrated by an employee of the Nuclear Family Supplemental Provider—a company that supplies “stand-ins” for families with deceased, ill, or just plain mean grandparents. And in “Blowing Up On the Spot,” a story singled out by Ann Patchett for Ploughshares, a young woman works sorting tiles at a Scrabble factory after her parents have spontaneously combusted.

Southern gothic at its best, laced with humor and pathos, these wonderfully empathetic stories explore the relationship between loss and death and the many ways we try to cope with both.

Highly recommended!

I truly, truly enjoyed this book. It kept my interest, had creative stories and caused me to ponder on all of the situations presented. Thank you!

I'll pass on finishing. Monotone Narrators

The stories are not all that interesting or well rounded. Above all the narrators for the few stories I listened to were just flat. Its as if Siri or Alexa bots were reading.