A crowning collection from the award-winning short story writer Pamela Painter. Pamela Painter's short stories have been praised by Margot Livesey for their "wicked intelligence and ruthless humor." In Fabrications, which brings together 7 new and 24 selected stories, characters struggle to avoid the chaos in their lives, but—driven by addictions and appetites—often bring on disaster. Nobody is ordinary in Painter's stories. A burglar can't believe what he is asked to do by the woman whose jewelry he is stealing. Hitchhikers, hell-bent on murder, are thwarted by the miracle of story-telling. A wife can make rooms—and her husband—disappear, but saves the family dog. A young woman insists on the romance of being married in an Elvis Presley chapel, but for the wrong reasons. Fabrications is a testament to Painter's lyric skill and psychological insight across her career. Praise for Previous Books by Pamela Painter "These wonderful stories—about dogs and housewives, scholars and teenagers—vividly demonstrate Painter's wicked intelligence and ruthless humor and her utterly democratic interest in all our faults and foibles. . . . [A] quirky, sexy, irresistible collection."—Margot Livesey "Pamela Painter's stories are warm, wise, funny, and ultimately true to the way we live now—trying to carry on in the face of things breaking down around us. Reading each story is a thrill—for the full-blown lives, astute details, exact metaphors, and pitch-perfect dialogue. She's like a carpenter—nailing it, again and again."—Bobbie Ann Mason "This is fiction of immense beauty, full of wisdom and informed by rare grace."—Steve Yarbrough