Two Nurses, Smoking: Stories

205 pp. Two nurses meet in the hospital parking lot the share a cigarette. They flirt and imagine a furtue together. A revelatory meditation on trauma and catharsis, isolation, and communion, these stories reflect the dislocations and anguish of our age, as well as the humanity that bouy us. David Means is the author of five short story collections. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2013, Means grew up in Michigan and teaches writing at the university level in New York.