Wish You Were Here: Short Stories & Flash Fiction - Softcover

The stories in "Wish You Were Here" are dynamic, sharply rendered observations on the human condition and the world we inhabit. And whether they’re moving onward, upward, or somewhere else in life, if at all, the characters in these sketches are real people facing genuine dilemmas—struggles at once familiar and unique, and very often, defining. From the shopkeeper in “Provisions,” who parts with one of his most prized possessions in order to earn a customer’s business, to the platoon sergeant in “Chance of Rain,” who risks his own life to ensure the safety of one of his soldiers, to the young Mexican in “This is Why We’re Going,” whose elucidations about coming to a land of opportunity echo those of generations of immigrants, Wish You Were Here reminds us that regardless of where we live and what we do, we’re more alike than different.

John Gifford is a writer based in Oklahoma City. He’s also the author of the story collection, Freeze Warning, which was named a finalist for the 2015 Press 53 Short Fiction Award, and two nonfiction titles on angling released through W.W. Norton. His work has appeared in Portland Review, december, Cold Mountain Review, Southwest Review, The Dallas Morning News, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Christian Science Monitor, U.S. News & World Report, and elsewhere. A former Marine and Persian Gulf War veteran, Gifford is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma’s Department of English. He earned his MFA in creative writing at the University of Central Oklahoma, where he won the Ernest Hemingway Fiction Award.