Charlie Haas’ debut novel The Enthusiast is a study in presence and absence.

While Greg Ames’s novel, Buffalo Lockjaw, contains all the elements of a classic Buffalo story—snow, sports, drinking, despair—Ames has created a narrator, James Fitzroy, who rises above caricature.

Kiss me and you will see how important I am. This Sylvia Plath line could easily be uttered by any of Rachel Sherman’s characters in her debut collection of short stories The First Hurt.