The seven stories comprising In the Valley of the Kings describe hard lives in the anthracite coal region of northeastern Pennsylvania, depicting with lyrical precision the moments in which lives shift or unravel, or achieve a fragile kind of grace. In the half-century after the coal's collapse, its people continue on among the silent ghosts of the past. A son recalls the night his parents' marriage unspooled; a father, haunted by the mystery of his lost daughter, finds himself in the ruins of town abandoned as an underground mine fire burns for half a century; a high school principal struggles for words in the eerie aftermath of group suicide, all in the gloomy but beautiful backdrop of a forgotten, past-haunted part of America. Novelistic in its scope, In the Valley of the Kings reveals an intricate portrait of the complexities of a single place.

About the Author
William Black grew up in Northeastern Pennsylvania, and though he left as soon as he was admitted to college, he remained haunted by the area's sometimes grim, melancholy past until he returned from stints in Alabama, the Pacific Northwest, Southern Ohio, and Baltimore to live in Scranton in 2009. His efforts to render the haunting into art have appeared in The Southern Review, Threepenny Review, The Sun Magazine, Crazyhorse, and elsewhere, and been recognized by the Maryland State Council for the Arts. He teaches in the MA in Writing program at Johns Hopkins University.


Book Information
ISBN 9781680032376
Author William Black
Format Paperback
Page Count 172
Imprint Texas Review Press
Publisher Texas Review Press
Weight(grams) 175g