“Few writers have captured the feeling of the rising tide of years sweeping over a character as evocatively as this.”
Kind words from New Critique editor James Mcloughlin about my short story “Bakersfield Breeds Outlaws,” which is now live on the NC website. The story is about a man who learns that his estranged mother is dying of cancer while he is living in the underground flood channels of Las Vegas. Deciding to take the Greyhound bus back to his hometown of Bakersfield, California, he is forced to confront his colorful and sordid past. But, in essence, the story is a character study of one of the more interesting people I met in the drains.
https://newcritique.co.uk/2024/07/07/fiction-bakersfield-breeds-outlaws-matthew-obrien/
