Beneath the Bonfire

Critics Review

• Some narratives have been gloriously expanded into fully molded works of art, while others are mere portraits, short yet no less poignant . . . Sensitive to the human condition, Butler continues to demonstrate his impressive command of atmosphere and humanity

  Publishers Weekly

• Butler’s characters could have emerged from vintage American rock songs, living on small hopes and banding together as best they can

  New York Times

• I love these stories: they’re quiet, careful. As glaciated as their own vistas. Without a doubt, Beneath the Bonfire is a diamond of a collection, shaped and hardened through the profound geologic pressures of love and pain

  Bill Cheng, author of SOUTHERN CROSS THE DOG

• The stories in Beneath the Bonfire highlight the strength in people during some of their weakest moments. The rich poetry in Butler’s gut-wrenching prose makes for a stunning portrait of quiet life in small town America. A universally relatable voice, filled with heart and grit

  Marcus Burke, author of TEAM SEVEN

• There’s a quiet heartbreak throughout Beneath the Bonfire. A wonderful story collection that conjures all the craft of Denis Johnson’s Jesus’ Son

  Nicole Lea Helget, author of STILLWATER

• These stories kept me reading all night and filled my heart all day. From the surreal to the surprisingly spot-on, Butler’s greatest gift is his ability to report the rusty truth while still allowing the stainless steel soul of his characters to shine through

  Michael Perry, author of TRUCK

• Butler’s characters lust and cherish and sustain and betray and redeem and console, traveling through every chamber of the human heart, and it’s hard to say — based on these excellent stories — whether love is the easiest or the most complicated emotion, but it’s clearly the best

  Benjamin Percy, author of RED MOON

• Beneath the Bonfire burns?with nostalgia forthose ?youthful years when we know too little and surrenders to the later years when we’ve learned too much. With honesty and tenderness, Butler portrays people at crossroads, as hardened and hopeful as the landscape they can’t leave behind

  Diane Cook, author of MAN V. NATURE

• When I finished Nickolas Butler’s stellar debut novel, I thought: Here’s a man who sees the saint in all of us. Well, his vision is only getting stronger. He’s the Midwestern bard I’ve been waiting my whole life for

  Peter Geye, author of THE LIGHTHOUSE ROAD

• Sentence-by-sentence, Beneath the Bonfire is a truly beautiful collection. It’s a love letter to a landscape, yes, but it’s also elegiac, funny, and dazzlingly dreamy, a look into the complicated inner lives of outwardly stoic souls

  Dean Bakopoulos, author of SUMMERLONG

• The stories in Beneath the Bonfire pack a sincere, emotional punch. Nickolas Butler’s territory might be the Midwest (which warms this particular reader’s heart), but the losses–and hard-won gains–are universal. This writer is the real deal

  Peter Orner, author of LAST CAR OVER THE SAGAMORE BRIDGE