I'm Intrigued...

...by the story behind former truck driver Donald Ray Pollock, the author of Knockemstiff, a collection of connected stories due out next month from Doubleday. Pollack, who quit school at 15, and later earned a degree in English and an MFA, is being touted as "the next important voice in American Fiction."

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal by Jeffrey Trachtenberg:

"Doubleday is drawing heavily on Mr. Pollock's background in selling the book. In a speech at a luncheon celebrating Knockemstiff last week, his editor, Gerald Howard, described Mr. Pollock as a writer from a different 'class' that is rarely heard from."

Here's an excerpt.