The short vignette-style tales in Troy James Weaver's literary debut, Witchita Stories, combine to make an evocative brew of small town melancholy, working class gloom, and coming of age charm. Told through the eyes of a young man who yearns to find excitement, truth, and a deeper family bond in his life, Weaver's approachable and revealing stories, lists, fragments, and memories delve into the weird, funny, and sometimes unsettling world of a midwest kid finding his own path.

"Thank god you can come across a writer like Troy James Weaver. In the future people will just say these stories are like Troy James Weaver stories and you'll know exactly what they mean." --Scott McClanahan

"There are moments, reading Witchita Stories, where everything dropped away, and I was speechless, or at least whatever the equivalent of speechless is when you're not talking in the first place. There is a deep sadness to these stories, and humor, but most importantly, honesty. This feels real and heavy and it's just about the best thing I've read in a long time." --J. David Osborne

"I loved Witchita Stories. Teenage boys, first kisses and what girls smell like. Fishing and skateboarding and fights. An alert and dirty little collection of stories with the good kind of stink to them. Troy James Weaver writes 'this was happening' after the bottle lands on the girl and she kisses the boy and I found myself thinking that as I read this book. THIS IS HAPPENING-these stories, these moments-THIS HAS HAPPENED, THIS WILL HAPPEN. Absolutely."--Leesa Cross-Smith, author of Every Kiss A War