The write-up on this claims the stories are all about myths, and there's plenty of that in here, both ancient and modern (some of my favorite stories were the ones that played on scientific rumors or weird articles read and repeated as fact so often they take the shape of truth). But there's also a really interesting undercurrent of family relationships here, sometimes between husbands and wives but often -- and more compellingly -- between fathers and sons.

As with any collection, there are maybe a couple of stories that I read and moved on from too quickly and too easily (though I'd like to reread them later and see how they hold up), but on a whole, this is a stunning little chapbook of fist-tight stories, and for all the blunt machismo of the prose, Daughterty does a stealthy and beautiful job of writing painful human emotions. Some stories, like "Break Apart the Whole Damn Earth" or "Mermaids" or "Heart Punch" (which could have been as apt a title for this collection as the one it wound up with), have this eerie ability to ripple onward into the stories that follow them, so you find yourself two paragraphs into a new story and suddenly backing up to reread the ending of the last one. The plot and the characters unfolded easily enough, but you try to move on and realize you're still feeling the last story. It's gotten under your skin. I love those kinds of double-takes in fiction, and Daugherty manages them well.

Overall, this is an excellent first book from publisher Passenger Side Books, and a worthy addition to any bookshelf. ( )