A strongman grapples with his shrinking body; a couple recalls the metamorphic stages of their love; a deck salesman makes a long-winded sales pitch; a magician guards a deadly secret. These are the lives that populate the stories of Dustin M. Hoffman—a vibrant, eccentric dream of America, one that deconstructs the blue-collar experience, and expands the possibilities of short fiction itself. Satirical and heartfelt, poignant and loopily funny, NO GOOD FOR DIGGING cements the arrival of a singular literary talent.
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CONTENTS
A Nesting 1
Red Shoe Twitch 3
The Magician’s Secret 7
An All-Night Diner 13
A Realistic Airplane 15
Grandpa Dies 19
Moon Burn 29
My Pupils, Dive Sites 31
Father’s Knots 33
The Plumber Who Found Treasure 35
A Better Trap 39
On the Strongest Man Compound 41
Hair Cropper Shies 47
Postal Heterochromia 49
The Ouija Board Inspector 51
Pitch 57
To Wait for Landing 61
The Diviner 63
Angel in the Pit 65
The Mouth Full of Flying 67
When We 69
Interstate Intestine 71
Long Division 73
The Life Net 75
Amateur Paleontologist Stumbles into My Foot 81
Father at Shift End 83
Brandy’s Streetlamp 85
Doug Dreamed in Hourly Wages 89
No Good for Digging 91
The Life Model 93
Bruise Room 95