READ: Breece D'J Pancake - Trilobites

The second post I made on this blog was about author Breece D'J Pancake, a South Charleston native and Marshall grad who committed suicide at the age of 26. His talents have been celebrated over the years by the likes of Kurt Vonnegut, Chuck Palahniuk and Andre Dubus III.

If you've never read Pancake's work before, I suggest starting with Trilobites, which you can read in full online thanks to The Atlantic, where it was originally published in 1977. "Trilobites" is the first story in Pancake's only printed collection, The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake. I can't recommend this highly enough.

Click here to read Trilobites.

READ: Breece D'J Pancake - The Stories of Breece D'J Pancak

With my second post, I will sway away from music and recommend this book by the West Virginia writer Breece D'J Pancake - The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake. Pancake was born in South Charleston, West Virginia, and attended Marshall University before going to the University of Virginia until committing suicide in 1979.

"Breece D'J Pancake cut short a remarkably promising career when he took his own life in 1979 at the age of 26. In 1983 Little, Brown and Company's posthumous publication of this book-a collection of stories that depict, with astonishing power and grace, the world of Pancake's native rural West Virginia-electrified the literary world with a force that still resounds across two decades. The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake has remained continuously in print, and Back Bay Books takes pride in now making the collection available in this new trade paperback edition."

Kurt Vonnegut once wrote, ""I give you my word of honor that he is merely the best writer, the most sincere writer I've ever read. What I suspect is that it hurt too much, was no fun at all to be that good. You and I will never know."

Author: Breece D'J Pancake.

Title: The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake.

Year: 1983.

For Fans Of: Ernest Hemingway, Andre Dubus III, Chuck Palahiuk.

READ IT: The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake - Breece D'J Pancake.