The burning ground

the long version

Moving from remote, sun-scorched towns to the charged hum of Venice Beach, The Burning Ground is a collection of eight stories populated by men haunted by their past and by their dreams, set against the canvas of California, where beauty and bleakness go hand in hand. In "A Thunderstorm in Santa Monica," a mans unmoored lifestyle is reflected back at him after a long flight. In "Black Bear in the Snow," a divorced advertising executive tries to rekindle a relationship with his son. And in the title story, "The Burning Ground," a painter is haunted by memories of his former lover. The stories take familiar rolesthe deadbeat dad, the drifting divorcé, the wayward manand bring them new emotional depth, peeling back the layers to reveal interiors both unexpected and arresting in their complexity.Written with a poets lyricism and an outsiders keen eye, Adam ORiordans insightful work paints an intimate portrait of diverse male lives contending with the potential of the West Coast.