Nestled in the foothills of West Virginia, Ron Earl Phillips lives with his wife, a daughter, a German Shepherd, and one too many cats.
Last year we had the privilege to publish Burning Down the House, Michel Lee Garrett’s, with T. Fox Dunham, environmental anthology to fight global warming with stories incited by The Talking Heads. This year we are equally thrilled to publish BORN A RAMBLIN’ MAN, fourteen tales of thieves, killers, vagabonds and lost souls.
In Born a Ramblin’ Man, Michel Lee Garrett weaves a tapestry of crime, desperation, comedy, and hope, all set against a backdrop of rural despair and big-city corruption. Across fourteen stories, small-time thieves pick the wrong pockets, small-town lives become uprooted by violence, and Michel’s recurring hero Raymond Reynolds grows from a ramblin’ vagabond into a seasoned investigator as he stumbles from one misadventure to the next. From the gritty darkness of the rural south to the neon underbelly of Las Vegas and all the highways in between, Born a Ramblin’ Man celebrates victories, heroes, criminals, and failures in equal measure.
“Michel Lee Garrett bursts onto the literary scene with an intensity worthy of Jennifer Egan, delivering fast-paced action while shining a light on the often invisible suffering of social outcasts in our own communities.” (5-star review)
—John Mauro, assistant editor, Before We Go Blog
“Something happens when you read Michel Lee Garrett’s work, but it happens so subtly that you don’t even notice it. At first. You forget that you’re reading and suddenly feel that you have become a fly on the wall…silent and invisible but as much a part of the story as any of the characters. You may not want to be there, but you also find that you really don’t want to look away.”
—P.D. Cacek, author of Second Lives, Second Chances and Sebastian
“Michel Lee Garrett’s new collection, Born a Ramblin’ Man, is special. The volume’s themes of introspection and finding one’s true self are both timely and eternal. The prose is outstanding, the pacing is top-shelf, and the imagery is luscious. Michel is a true wordsmith and Born a Ramblin’ Man is a must-read.”
—J.B. Stevens, award-winning author and critic
“Michel Lee Garrett is not only a brilliant writer, but an important one. Born A Ramblin’ Man is packed with the tough and the proud making their place in the lost corners of America.”
—Libby Cudmore, Shamus and Black Orchid award-winning author of Negative Girl and The Big Rewind
“14 engaging tales of drifters and grifters, con artists and conned, has-beens and never-weres – Michel Lee Garrett is the perfect guide for a gripping trip you don’t want to miss. Ramble on!”
—Gregory Galloway, award-winning author of All We Trust and Just Thieves
“Good God! Michel’s instantly iconic hero Ray is the dusty soul of America: a hunter, a detective, and even a prophet, one who proves God exists in his distant heaven but the devil’s waiting at the crossroads—and much more fun. With a Willie Nelson t-shirt, cowboy boots and a joint hanging off his lip, he’s on the search for truth in stories that flawlessly join old detective noir with country charm. Michel Lee Garrett is one of America’s up-and-coming great storytellers, and if you love compelling detective yarns or just some old-fashioned crime stories, you have to read Born a Ramblin’ Man“
—T. Fox Dunham, author of The Street Martyr and Mercy
“Michel Lee Garrett writes tense stories full of humanity and grit. Born a Ramblin’ Man is a master class in writing crime fiction.”
—John C. Foster, author of The Hard Six
“Born a Ramblin’ Man marks the debut collection of a ferocious and talented writer. Michel Lee Garrett brings to her work equal measures a vivid eye for character, a whip-lash storytelling sensibility, and an unquenchable thirst for justice. Haunted characters and haunted lives roam these pages, each one with Michel’s unmistakable touch. This is one not to be missed.”
—James D.F. Hannah, Shamus Award-winning author of Behind the Wall of Sleep and Because the Night
Michel Lee Garrett is a noir fiction author and Pennsyltucky poet. A queer and transgender writer, her work seeks to examine how inequitable systems manufacture injustice, and how the human condition is ultimately one of rebellion against an absurd world. Her fiction has appeared from Flame Tree Press, Shotgun Honey, Down & Out Books, Cowboy Jamboree, and others. She is the editor of Burning Down The House, a charity anthology incited by the songs of the Talking Heads to benefit the fight against climate change, forthcoming from Shotgun Honey.
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