• Dirty Fighter
• William Householder (bio)

Here are a few things you may not know about George Singleton, Southern fiction writer, purveyor of "grit lit," and one of the funniest short story writers this benighted country has produced: George and his opossum buddy have time-traveling adventures as the superheroes Manna Man and Thanatosis Girl, righting wrongs throughout history. George likes to put his good friend, the acclaimed novelist and poet Ron Rash, into his stories in a most unseemly and grotesquely funny fashion. (It's not hard. "Rash" lends itself to abuse in so many ways). George likes flea markets. Fact or fiction? You decide.

George Singleton is not just a funny Southern fiction writer in the grand tradition, which includes Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty, Donald Barthelme and Roy Blount, Jr. But he is also a first-class travel agent. How's that, you ask? I thought he worked for Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina? Rest assured, he still does, but his passion has always been travel. If you've ever read any of George's stories, you know he likes to send you to the most interesting places this side of the Mason-Dixon Line. Have you ever visited a town called Gruel? Or Poke? Or Forty-Five? Sure, there are towns with such odd names all over the South, and yes, the populations of such towns exist, but not in the same state! The Carolinas of George Singleton are familiar, but slightly skewed.The big problem with reading Singleton is after a while you start to talk and think like one his characters or worse yet, if you're a writer, you start to write like Singleton and nobody else can do that but him. For example, take a look at the opening of "Rinse Cycle":

Tyler Fort would still be alive these thirty-plus years later had my father not thrown away the cheap Zebco rod and reel, if my best friend Arlie Capps's father hadn't beaten him after we got caught, if Mr. Fort had learned how to read and been able to get another job after the mill closed, if new owner, Mr. Patel, had drained the swimming pool after Labor Day behind the twelve-room Hilltop Motel like old owner, Mr. Liner, always did ... if Raj Patel had installed a higher fence or security cameras to let him know when two fourteen-year-old boys jumped a split rail in order to harass a boy pummeled by an unhinged father, if the town of Poke could still afford a single cop to work third shift driving around with a spotlight, and—to be honest—if Tyler Fort possessed the ability to say, "I don't want to wear dresses every Sunday night." But he's long dead.

That story's opening paragraph has so much energy in its prose and momentum in the exposition it supplies, only to slam on the brakes in the last sentence: you have to read it twice just to be sure of what's happened. I read that opening and said, "Damn!" Further evidence that the writing of George Singleton will make you forget a good Baptist upbringing.

The men in the fourteen stories comprising Staff Picks are middle-class, middle-aged, white guys from small Southern towns. They are hapless. They are suckers. They are schmucks trying to get by. The women are long-suffering or no-longer [End Page 32] suffering as they've wised up and left these pathetic men. Some good examples of these men are in "One More," "Gloryland," and "Resisting Separation."

George Singleton is also a dirty fighter. You think you're getting a funny story about a couple's marital foibles and then out of nowhere he'll punch you in the gut with enough force that the air coming out of you sounds like a sob, then he'll throw dust into your eyes to make you tear up. His coup de grâce is his signature wrestling move, illegal in thirty of the continental United States...

• 肮脏的战斗机
• 威廉·豪瑟（William Householder）（生物）

关于南方小说作家，“砂砾点燃”的提供者乔治·辛格尔顿（George Singleton），以及这个梦country以求的国家产生的最有趣的短篇小说家之一，您可能不了解以下几件事：乔治和他的负鼠哥们都喜欢穿越时空的冒险。超级英雄Manna Man和Thanatosis Girl，在整个历史中纠正错误。乔治喜欢将自己的好朋友，广受赞誉的小说家和诗人罗恩·拉什（Ron Rash）放到自己的故事中，而这些故事似乎是最诡异和怪诞的。（这并不难。“皮疹”以多种方式使其易于滥用）。乔治喜欢跳蚤市场。事实还是虚构？你决定。

乔治·辛格尔顿（George Singleton）不仅是伟大传统中有趣的南方小说作家，其中包括弗兰纳里·奥康纳（Flannery O'Connor），尤多拉·韦尔蒂（Eudora Welty），唐纳德·巴瑟姆（Donald Barthelme）和小罗伊·布朗特（Roy Blount，Jr.）。但他还是一流的旅行社。你问那怎么样？我以为他在南卡罗来纳州斯巴达堡的沃尔福德学院工作？放心，他仍然这样做，但是他的热情始终是旅行。如果您曾经阅读过乔治的任何故事，那么您就会知道他喜欢把您带到梅森-迪克森（Mason-Dixon）线这边最有趣的地方。您曾经去过一个叫Gruel的小镇吗？还是戳？还是四十五岁？当然，在整个南方都有一些名字如此古怪的城镇，是的，这些城镇的人口存在，但不在同一州！乔治·辛格尔顿（George Singleton）的卡罗来纳州人很熟悉，但略有倾斜。阅读Singleton的最大问题是一段时间后，您开始说话并像他的角色那样思考，或更糟糕的是，如果您是一名作家，您将开始像Singleton那样写作，只有他能做到。例如，看一下“冲洗周期”的开头：

如果我的父亲阿里·卡普斯的父亲在被抓到之后没有殴打他，如果福特先生学会了如何阅读并能够在工厂关闭后找到另一份工作，如果新老板帕特尔先生在劳动节之后像老老板利纳先生那样在拥有十二间房间的Hilltop Motel后面排干了游泳池，如果...拉吉·帕特尔（Raj Patel）安装了更高的栅栏或安全摄像头，以告知他两个十四岁的男孩何时跳过一条分裂的铁轨，以骚扰一个男孩，如果波克（Poke）镇仍能负担得起一名警察的话，该男孩将他殴打。进行三级变速，尤其是如果泰勒·福特（Tyler Fort）有能力说：“我不会不想每个星期天晚上都穿衣服。”但是他已经死了。

这个故事的开篇段落在散文中充满了活力，并且在展览中提供了动力，只是在最后一句话中踩了刹车：您必须阅读两次才能确定发生了什么。我读了那个开头，说：“该死！” 进一步的证据表明乔治·辛格尔顿的写作将使您忘记良好的浸信会教养。

十四个故事中包括“员工精选”的男人是来自南方小城镇的中产阶级，中年白人。他们很不幸。他们是傻瓜。他们是试图摆脱的笨蛋。这些妇女明智地离开了这些可怜的男人，遭受了长期的痛苦或不再痛苦[End Page 32]。这些人的一些很好的例子是“另一个”，“荣耀之地”和“抵抗分离”。

乔治·辛格尔顿（George Singleton）也是肮脏的战士。您以为自己得到了一个关于一对夫妻婚姻脆弱性的有趣故事，然后他无处不在会用足够大的力在肠道内猛击您，以至于您的空气听起来像是在抽泣，然后他会将灰尘撒进您的内脏。眼睛让你流泪。他的政变是他标志性的摔角举动，在美国30个大陆中都是非法的。