Big World
About this audiobook
A short story collection full of powerful prose and remarkably genuine characters from the author of The Last Days of California
The collection of stories, produced by Andi Arndt, is performed by the author along with a stunning cast of Nashville stars, including Janis Ian, Mary Gauthier, Telisha Williams, Amy Speace, and Louise Mosrie.
The characters in Mary Miller's debut short story collection, Big World, are at once autonomous and lonesome, possessing both a longing to connect with those around them and a cynicism regarding their ability to do so, whether they're holed up in a motel room in Pigeon Forge with an air-gun-shooting boyfriend, as in "Fast Trains," or navigating the rooms of their house with their dad after their mother's death as in "Leak." Mary Miller's writing is unapologetically honest and efficient, and the gut-wrenching directness of her prose is reminiscent of Mary Gaitskill and Courtney Eldridge, if Gaitskill's and Eldridge's stories were set in the South and reeked of spilled beer and cigarette smoke.
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About the author
Mary Miller grew up in Jackson, Mississippi. She is the author of the chapbooks Less Shiny and They Could No Longer Contain Themselves, as well as the novel The Last Days of California. Her fiction has been published in dozens of journals and anthologies, including McSweeney’s Quarterly, Ninth Letter, Mississippi Review, American Short Fiction, Oxford American, and New Stories from the South 2008. She received a master’s degree in English and creative writing from the Center for Writers at the University of Southern Mississippi. A graduate of the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, she returned to Mississippi in the fall of 2014 to serve as the John and Renée Grisham Writer-in-Residence at Ole Miss.
Andi Arndt is a professional actor who specializes in narration with an emphasis on audiobooks and e-Learning. She taught acting and voice for the James Madison University School of Theatre and Dance for over a decade, and she has worked full time for WMRA hosting classical music and NPR news programming. When not behind the mic, she can be found at live music venues or planning her next travel adventure.
Janis Ian is a singer, songwriter, and author. She is best known for her 1975 hit single, “At Seventeen,” which won a Grammy Award. She won a second Grammy in 2013 for the narration of her autobiography, Society’s Child.
The Associated Press named Mary Gauthier one of the best songwriters of her generation. Her most recent release, Rifles & Rosary Beads was nominated for a Grammy award for Best Folk Album, and Record of the Year by the Americana Music Association. Her songs have been recorded by dozens of artists, including Boy George, Blake Shelton, Tim McGraw, Bettye Lavette, Kathy Mattea, Amy Helm and Candi Staton. Saved by a Song is her first book. She lives in Nashville.
