The Deep Code

The landscapes of The Deep Code range from rural Mississippi to the deserts of New Mexico, the mountains of western Montana, and the tourist traps of the Florida Gulf Coast. These seven stories tell of desperation and perseverance in the face of generational struggles. In the title story, a recovering alcoholic tries to preserve what's left of his fractured relationship with his son, while trying to free himself from another of his step-father's get-rich-quick schemes. In "The Golden Horde of Mississippi" a young woman butts heads with her grandmother over the appropriate way to honor her dead, heavy-metal-loving cousin, while in "Escalation Dominance," a former Los Alamos nuclear weapons scientist tries to embrace the child of her husband's affair with a local hippie girl. With unflinching love, these stories explore characters bestowed with little more than the refusal to succumb to their own bad choices in life.