Peter Conners, editor at BOA Editions, introduces Martha Ronk's debut short story collection.

In one of my early editorial correspondences with Martha Ronk, she said of Glass Grapes and Other Stories (978-1-934414-13-4): "The main thrust behind the book was to create pieces in which objects rather than psychology had the major impact on characters and decisions. I wanted the physical world to throw about its very substantial weight." Interestingly enough, in a Ronk story, as we find in the title story "Glass Grapes," those physical objects usually land their "substantial weight" directly on top of a character's psyche. As a result, the character has all their insecurities, petty angers, real fears, hidden joys, and many obsessions squeezed out for readers to behold. And Ronk's characters are nothing if not obsessive. In fact, I would go so far as to say that no contemporary American writer is as skilled at laying bare the inner-workings of an obsessive mind as Martha Ronk. Part of the reason for her success is that her language is so precise and her sentences so deft that the reader has no choice but to follow along until Ronk decides to release them. The result is a trip through the psyche of an acutely aware and fiercely intelligent mind.     
 
Martha Ronk is an extremely distinguished American poet and fiction writer. Her work has garnered critical accolades and numerous awards including, most recently, a 2005 PEN USA Award in Poetry, a 2006 National Poetry Series Award, and a 2007 NEA Fellowship. Ronk is one of the rare writers with equally impressive facility in both poetry and fiction. Due to this facility, her fiction moves with grace, beauty, syntactical rigor, and the same attention to language as our most accomplished poetry. BOA Editions is proud to be the publisher of Martha Ronk's debut short story collection, Glass Grapes and Other Stories. We are pleased to present this sample story from the collection for your reading pleasure.