The one, the only Nancy Pearl had some tremendously generous things to say about UNDERSTORIES in conversation with Steve Inskeep on NPR’s Morning Edition. Calling the book “her favorite short story collection in recent memory,” she went on to dub the work “elastic realism,” explaining that the book is “firmly grounded in realism,…[b]ut then…stretches that definition of realism into places that we might not think it would go.”

Plainly and simply, I love this characterization and broke into a rather elastic dance upon hearing her.

She also had kind words for Bellevue Literary Press on Seattle’s The Record, stating, “Their books are just gems. It’s hard to find a Bellevue Literary Press book that, for me, doesn’t work.”

You can listen to the segment here: http://www.npr.org/2014/06/23/323707006/librarian-nancy-pearl-maps-out-a-plan-for-your-summer-reading