Trilobites & Other Stories

The best, most sincere writer I’ve ever read – Kurt Vonnegut
Breece D’J Pancake left behind an astonishing achievement. He was a master of a distinctly American vernacular, which he used to remind us of all the ways that fiction could teach us about ourselves. These stories are absolutely essential reading * Kevin Powers, author of The Yellow Birds *
This is an exceptional voice; gritty, mordant, invested with the texture of stroked reality; urgent and haunting * Margaret Atwood *
Muscular, precise, lyric and unforgettable… Utterly singular – Eileen Battersby * Irish Times *
Simple, rich with dialogue and precious – Anna Fielding * Stylist *
[Pancake’s] words…combined with an unsparing vision of humanity create the spine-tingling sense that you’re reading an original – Max Liu * Independent *
Haunting brilliance – John Dugdale * Literary Review *
By any standards, [the story “Trilobites”] is a masterpiece; that it is an artistic debut is astonishing… To say that Breece D’J Pancake is not well enough known is a massive understatement… Quite simply, a literary genius – John Burnside * Guardian *
Impressive – Philip Maughan * New Statesman *

Breece D’J Pancake was born in Charleston, West Virginia in 1952. His unusual middle name ’D’J’ originated from a misprint of Pancake’s middle initials by The Atlantic Monthly (D.J. for Dexter John) when Pancake’s first published story, ‘Trilobites’ was published in 1977. Pancake decided not to correct it. In 1979, when he was just twenty-six, Pancake died from a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head. He was buried in Milton, Virginia.

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