SUICIDAL GODS is a short story collection. The short stories range from hilarious to dramatic with a variety of characters and themes wrapped into the collection. From the collection: CORALINE WAS DESTINED to be the last. Her mama, Emma Walker, took to bed immediately after the difficult birth, where she grew weaker and frailer as the days passed. She was laid to rest in the Walker family cemetery shortly after her daughter's first birthday. Coraline remembered nothing about her. Everything she knew about Mama had come from Granny Mag. After their mother died, it was Granny Mag who took care of Coraline and her two older brothers, William and Nathan, moving into their cabin on the warm side of Spenser Mountain, several miles south of where the Dogleg Bend Trading Post sat along the river. Papa walked the line most every morning, even Sunday, checking his traps from the day before. He didn't have many, so he was choosy about his spots, and his favorites were spread out over a half day's walk. Every day, Papa traipsed into the misty hills with his hunting rifle, Coraline watching from the loft window as the West Virginia morning swallowed him up. He always gave her a kiss and whispered, "My little dog-flower," before he surrendered himself to the mist. Granny Mag, having been named after the magnolia blossom herself, said it was because she was as pretty as the pink flowers on the dogwood.