John McNally
author of
Ghosts of Chicago
America’s Report Card
The Book of Ralph
Troublemakers
Live in Indianapolis
Thursday, October 9 . 6:30 p.m.
Irvington Branch
Indianapolis Marion County Public Library
5625 East Washington Street . Indianapolis
Admission is Free! books will be available for purchase.
Reception with cash bar will follow
at The Legend Classic Irvington Café.
Sponsored by
John McNally is the author of two novels, The Book of Ralph and America’s Report Card, and short story collections Ghosts of Chicago (forthcoming this October) and Troublemakers. He’s also edited numerous anthologies, including Who Can Save Us Now?: Brand-New Superheroes and Their Amazing (Short) Stories (co-edited with Owen King). A native of Chicago, he presently lives with his wife, Amy, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he is Associate Professor of English at Wake Forest University. His story “Ascension: George Pullman, 1831-1897” appeared in Freight Stories No. 1, and appears in Ghosts of Chicago. John McNally’s website is www.bookofralph.com.
Advance praise for Ghosts of Chicago:
"McNally follows two smart and rambunctious novels with a triumphant return to the short story. His second collection (his award-winning debut was Troublemakers, 2000) is set in a precisely drawn yet mythical Chicago, McNally's hometown. Spooky and tender with McNally's signature mix of compassion and irony, these complex stories feature characters haunted by their dead and missing, dazed by drugs and obsession, and living in strange isolation…McNally has always been an embracing and funny writer. He now reaches deeper psychic levels in these edgy, knowing, and rough yet entrancing short stories.”
–Donna Seaman, BOOKLIST, October 2008
"These [stories] are more than just the travails of the dead—the nature of love, family bonds and loss all haunt these streets as well. McNally's wit always comes at you unexpectedly…but the subtle sadness of each story's texture, the ache of emptiness, makes the final impression. Ghosts of Chicago, a fine assemblage, reminds us of what we're missing."
–Tom Lynch, NEW CITY (Chicago), September 2008: Fall Book Preview
