Spent Saints and Other Stories
By Brian Jabas Smith
The Ridgeway Press
If you read Brian Smith's Tucson Salvage column in these pages, then you know his ability to find the beauty and strength in Southern Arizonans who live on the margins. Smith's debut collection of short stories likewise examines the lives of damaged men and women traveling dark roads. Bob Mehr, the author of Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements, says it better than we could in his review: "A gimlet-eyed chronicler of subterranean scenes, Brian Jabas Smith has spent a career finding both truth and beauty among those who've been consigned to the narrow margins of society. At last we're given a collection that captures the essence of his vintage neon prose. But Spent Saints is more than just glorious guttersnipe poetry—it's a work of deep empathy and trenchant wit, a humanist drama that seeks to understand the lives of the artistic demimonde and the unglamorous working masses at once." We'll keep it simple: It's a great read, so pick up a copy.
