A Simplified Map of the Real World: The Renata Stories Tapa blanda - 2013

"You don't need to be from a small Oregon town to recognize Stevan Allred's characters. They are your mother, your father, your cousin Cathy. And probably more than you'd like to admit, they even feel a bit like you. A Simplified Map of the Real World is a highly-skilled collection of interwoven stories, surprising in its various styles and voices. But the real surprise is how close Stevan Allred gets to the beating heart of what it means to be human. Petty, profane, sacred, scared, hilarious. We're all in this book. And that's quite a triumph."
- Tom Spanbauer, author of The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon

"Stevan Allred's characters are delightfully wrong-headed. They make questionable choices--sometimes terrible ones--and get themselves into all kinds of trouble. But the worse their mistakes, the more I care for them, because beyond their difficulties what Allred gives them is the essential dignity of longing. No matter how misguided, all strive toward some ideal, and no matter what mess they make of their circumstances, they end up more alive for having given themselves over to desire. To read their stories is to journey through passions that transcend the confinements of small town life--and it's a journey that's by turns funny, surprising, and heartbreaking."
- Scott Nadelson, author of The Next Scott Nadelson