Praise for Collateral Damage

At times hilarious, at other times heartbreaking, Nancy Ludmerer’s masterful Collateral Damage is essential reading  . . .  Here you’ll find forty-eight tales of redemption, loss, yearning and regret . . . Ludmerer writes with deep understanding of the nuanced frailties of human relations.  

 —  ALICE  KALTMAN, author of Dawg Towne

The characters in Nancy Ludmerer’s shimmering stories  —  young and old, fly and fish — will stay with you because they have so much heart. They act with grace and conviction, with longing and despair, and sometimes even with malice, but always, always, we’re on their side. 

  —  PAMELA  PAINTER, author of Fabrications: New and Selected Stories

 . . . In just a page or two, Nancy Ludmerer shines a spotlight on pivotal moments  .  . .  These are stories about characters failing in their responsibilities to others, secrets kept, and moments when relationships dissolve. Yet these stories are also about characters hoping for something better . . . Ludmerer accomplishes so much in these small, crystalline stories.  

 —  KARIN LIN-GREENBERG, author of Vanished

What goes on when the doors are closed and the shades drawn? In Nancy Ludmerer’s world it’s not happiness and board games. It’s mean-spirited or hapless husbands, angry wives, and troubled families – all written as only Ludmerer can write them  . . .  But don’t take my word for it. Buy the book plus one for a friend because you won’t want to lend this out. 

  —  PAUL  BECKMAN, author of Kiss Kiss

. . . Nancy Ludmerer’s keen sense of how, in short form, to craft endings that pay off is one of the triumphs of this book . . . her work is at once brief and complex.

 —  STUART DYBEK, author of Paper Lantern: Love Stories