The Spirit Returns is the fourth collection of original short fiction from Richard Burgin. His characters are everyday people at emotional and psychological crossroads.  Most of the characters in these 11 hard-edged stories fall well outside our culture's conception of normalcy.  Lonely, damaged people who desire love and intimacy, they're doomed to thwart every opportunity for connection.

    -  In "The Liar", a man opening up to a dinner companion is reminded of the emptiness of his own life when the promise of emotional intimacy unexpectedly goes unfulfilled.
    -  In "Carbo's", a couple on a blind date face their own gender prejudices, past disappointments, and sexual expectations.
    -  In "Miles" (the Pushcart Prize winner), a lonely young businessman becomes mixed up with a volatile airport shuttle driver and his damaged sister.
    -  In "The Spirit Returns", the title story, a man who takes an unusual pleasure out of frightening strangers is forced to deal with his own fears when he shares this pleasure with one of those strangers.
    -  In "The Ignorant Girl", a lonely man almost develops a relationship with a battered woman, but eventually each goes their own desolate way.

Publisher's Weekly:  "These are flawed but genuine individuals, rooted in honesty and compassion, and the lines of their compelling stories trace journeys through insecurity, despair, and ultimately, hope.  Richard Burgin writes crisp and intelligent dialogue and description, and he handles disconcerting situations with deadpan ease.  Reminiscent of Mary Gaitskill's protagonists in Bad Behavior, his characters - alone, alienated, desolate and desperate - come alive on the page."

 

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