Godforsaken Idaho — Shawn Vestal

Stories of the afterlife, the rugged Northwest, and the early days of Mormonism -- by a ferociously imaginative new writer.

This stunning debut story collection by an acclaimed McSweeney's and Tin House contributor will satisfy fans of such short-fiction masters as Denis Johnson and George Saunders, as well as those readers fascinated by the Mormon faith -- and those who enjoyed the show Big Love and the musical The Book of Mormon.

“The First Several Hundred Years Following My Death” is a comic vision of the afterlife in which everyone in heaven is the age they were when they died -- a fantasy both profound and absurd. In the tough, tender “About as Fast as This Car Can Go,” a teenager gets introduced to crime after his father is released from jail, and in “Winter Elders,” Mormon missionaries pursue a man who has left the fold -- with gruesome results.

In the concluding triptych, Vestal takes on the legends and legacy of Mormonism. “Diviner,” the final piece, is an indelible portrait of the young Joseph Smith, in the days when he was not yet the founder of the Mormon faith but a man hired to find buried treasure.