The Downriver Horseshoe draws its stories from the landscapes and people of the industrial, south side of Metro Detroit called Downriver.
This collection of short stories is Americana with a gritty, blue-collar twist—filled with quirky, rough-hewn characters like Duke Peterson, a retired cookie-truck driver who, at the behest of his nasty, invalid wife, has to hock his grandfather’s old shotguns to make rent; there is George Rimbaud, a morally confused mailman who continually crosses the line and intertwines his life (and sex life) with people along his route; and also Simon Touhy, a young man who falls in love with a prosthetic leg found at his worksite on Mt. Trashmore, a landfill converted to public ski slope. With the luck and pride of Downriver at their side, these men march on, making the best decisions they can in an area that can be bleak and beautiful and dangerous on the same block.
All of the stories have previously appeared in nationally distributed magazines such as LIT, Cimarron Review, Storyglossia, Beloit Fiction Journal, The MacGuffin, Atticus Review, Crime Factory, Needle: A Magazine of Noir, Thieves Jargon, Avatar Review and Pebble Lake Review.
From My Readers
In this compelling collection of 11 stories by a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, Scott Miles gives readers a voyeuristic look into the lives of cursed characters from the industrial south side of Detroit, known as Downriver. Miles writes tight sentences, with genuine dialogue and unexpected imagery. He frequently writes in the first person, lending greater intimacy to stories that consistently ring true.
Every story in THE DOWNRIVER HORSESHOE is full of secrets, and so many of the lines keep surprising me. The way Scott Miles sees the world is fresh and effortless, like a kid coming across a new animal he’s never seen before. What do you name it? How do you describe its sound? That’s the experience—except with strippers, suicide, brutality, and a whole lot of pain.
Scott Miles’s writing is funny and dark, often on the same page. His compelling characters and original stories make THE DOWNRIVER HORSESHOE a must-read collection. Highly recommended.