Normally I wouldn't bother to post a free short story promoting a new book, but it's
James Lee Burke. After some dithering I just decided to post it, and you can decide if you want it. Mr. Burke is among the masters of the mystery genre and at least a couple of his books surely qualify as exceptional literary fiction.
Free from Simon & Schuster:
A Dust Bowl Tale of Bonnie and Clyde: A Short Story by James Lee Burke.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GVJ16CK
Quote:
From James Lee Burke, called "America's best novelist" by The Denver Post, comes a brand new e-short about a young man's encounter with the infamous Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow - a story that becomes the first chapter in Burke's upcoming novel Wayfaring Stranger.
Sixteen-year-old Weldon Holland has had to grow up fast as he tries to support his family in the aftermath of the agricultural disaster of the Dust Bowl.
One night, a carload of strangers appears on the Hollands' property, carrying the air of incipient danger underneath a veneer of pleasantries. Weldon finds himself inexplicably drawn to the group of trespassing vagabonds - who, despite being camped out on a hidden riverbank in the middle of nowhere, drive the most expensive automobile that Weldon has ever seen.
In the unbearable, rainless heat of a Dust Bowl summer, Weldon will find himself mixed up in an encounter with the infamous bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde - an encounter that changes the course of Weldon's life...and history itself.
Rich with criminal and social history of the American West and a young boy's struggle to become a man, "A Dust Bowl Tale of Bonnie and Clyde" is just the beginning of Weldon Holland's story.
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