I’m sure you’ve heard of the phrase BFF (Best Friend Forever), so you will forgive me if I use the newly coined term BAF (Best Author Forever) to describe Nickolas Butler. 2014 saw the publication of his debut novel, the wonderfully written SHOTGUN LOVESONGS. Just to show us that the craft displayed in that book was no fluke, we are now presented with BENEATH THE BONFIRE, 10 short stories taken from places rare and obscure. It is as fine a collection of contemporary short fiction as you are likely to encounter this year.

All of the stories here are somewhat the same while being markedly different, each from the other. The common thread running through them is that they duck and slice in and out of the lives of the rural poor and working class, those who most of us tangentially encounter while on road trips where they stand behind the counters of gas station convenience stores and truck stops at the top of highway exit ramps. The stories in BENEATH THE BONFIRE deal with the markedly different lives they lead, snapshots of luck gone bad and choices poorly made to terrible ends.

"Butler’s mastery of the written word shines through the pain he inflicts to varying degrees upon his characters, primary and secondary; by the end of each tale, there is no question that what has been told is real, for better or worse."

It’s tough to pick a winner out of all the roses here. I could almost reflexively reach for “Morels” when trying to do so. I think I will remember this story for as long as I am alive. Three lifelong friends --- one of whom has become wildly successful, the others not quite so much --- annually meet up for a day of mushroom hunting and substance abuse. There is a quality of uneasiness that pervades the story from its opening sentence, but when disaster finally and suddenly comes after a couple of false starts, it is almost worse than one can imagine. I thought I wouldn’t be able to continue reading, but it was ultimately worth moving forward.

Then I consider “The Chainsaw Soirée,” which opens the collection. Its intriguing title is matched by the story, which is set against the backdrop of a quasi-commune of sorts that has taken over an abandoned church as shelter and partakes in an annual firewood gathering event against the onset of winter. Two men who have been in natural competition with each other for over a decade have a very indirect confrontation that will affect the lifetimes of both. The flip side of “The Chainsaw Soirée” is revealed in “Leftovers,” a story that is peacefully titled but has an uneasy undercurrent in which two women --- one quick, one otherwise --- are in competition for the heart and soul of a man in distinctly different ways.

All of those stories end somewhat unpredictably, but none more so than the beautifully told (and titled) “Train People Move Slow.” Anyone who has ever been in a long-term established relationship and wondered why they continued going through the motions will read this wonderful story again and again. Butler almost seems to be channeling O. Henry here --- idealistically, not stylistically --- and you’ll want to read “Train People Move Slow” again and again, just to make sure that you got it right. However, even when the ending to a story is predictable, Butler hits his mark. “In Western Counties,” which was published as an eBook short story a few months ago, is a tale of revenge by proxy against a very imaginable evil. One pretty much knows where it is going from its first paragraph, which makes it all the more addicting and gripping. You won’t be able to read it, or any other story in this collection, quickly enough.

BENEATH THE BONFIRE is not a long volume, and despite the dark subject matter, its 10 stories are curiously uplifting, if at times only partially so. Butler’s mastery of the written word shines through the pain he inflicts to varying degrees upon his characters, primary and secondary; by the end of each tale, there is no question that what has been told is real, for better or worse. This one is a keeper, to be placed on the shelf for annual (and more frequent) re-reading.