Short stories by Charles Baxter
CHARLES BAXTER is the author of the novels The Feast of Love (nominated for the National Book Award), First Light, Saul and Patsy, Shadow Play,The Soul Thief, and The Sun Collective, and the story collections Believers, Gryphon, Harmony of the World, A Relative Stranger, There’s Something I Want You to Do, and Through the Safety Net. His stories have been included in The Best American Short Stories. Baxter lives in Minneapolis and teaches at the University of Minnesota and in the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.
Listing 10 stories.
A woman falls in love and gets married to a kind doctor, but on the couple's trip to Prague, their relationship takes a turn when the woman begins to hear voices and prophecies.
A man must hunt down his painkiller-addicted ex-boyfriend and attempt to rescue the ex from his drug dealer.
A college professor sets out to show his elderly mother the simple joys of life and ends up learning about happiness and logic from her instead.
A young boy and his classmates meet Ms. Ferenczi, a strange substitute teacher with intense travel stories and peculiar mathematical theories to share. However, her comments become controversial and the children must decide if they want her around the classroom.
When a musician is faced with harsh criticism from a revered teacher, the life he had always planned goes up in flames.
When a violent father receives a call from someone who claims to be his biological brother, he must re-evaluate what family means to him.
In a small town in Minnesota, a man's ex-wife returns to him, homeless and in request for help, after abandoning him and their son more than a decade ago.
A big-city transplant in small-town Michigan tries to make sense of his own existence as he confronts the possibility of fatherhood.
An older man remembers his cousin, who was quite like him despite their 20 year age difference. The cousin has died, but the man nevertheless recalls their conversations together and now feels obligated to financially support his cousin's family years down the line.
On a business trip to Detroit, a naïve Swede catches feelings for a woman during a one-night stand, but her involvement with a cult prevents any potential future between them.