The Samaritan

A young boy learns a valuable lesson after he and his grandmother dabble with voodoo. A man is compelled to buy a pig to overcome his midlife crisis. A troubled father analyzes his parenting decisions as he's perched in a tree drinking beer.

These are three of the storylines in "The Good Samaritan, and Other Stories," a thoroughly unique and entirely entertaining collection of seven short stories and one novella set in the American South. Sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet, the stories are narrated by male characters reviewing the circumstances of their lives and how they got over their troubles and moved on.

Simple, sentimental, and spiked with Southern humor, the collection brings life to a seldom-heard voice from the South, showing what life is like for the average, working class, Southern white male as he struggles to overcome obstacles-both modest and overwhelming-in life.

True to this tone, the title novella, "The Samaritan," tracks the outrageous circumstances a man in Samaria, South Carolina, faces when his family threatens his lifelong dream. Sure to put a smile on your face that probably shouldn't be there, this story, and those that follow, will inspire you to look at your own life from a different angle.