Signs of Life follows diverse characters as they live, bravely though often blindly, in the rural areas and small towns where they run into life's jagged walls-yet still they seek for marrow, some sign, to sustain them on their singular journeys. Here you will find eleven stories that will both trouble and please you. You'll come upon a woman who goes to the funerals of strangers, a Texas beauty parlor operator, the manager of a trailer park, a country preacher, a bare-back bronc rider and a lovelorn bachelor-the kinds of people who'll make you marvel at their courage and at the same time wonder at the precariousness of their lives. And you'll recognize in their stories people you've known all your life.