Review
"The spaces and places described here are expansive, quiet, and uniquely American - be they a deserted 7/11, a suburban house, a mountainside lake, or an icy frontage road. These places are described in prose that is lucid, clear, and often achingly beautiful." - Neon Books
From the Back Cover
"I was struck from the first sentence by the crystalline narrative voice--sometimes uncanny, sometimes weird, but always precise, unflinching, and painfully self-aware--and the experimentation with form as a way to dig deeper and question ideas of religion, family, place, community, masculinity, death, and the self. These essays, and their narrator, wouldn't shake from me after I read them. I wholeheartedly recommend Baptizing the Dead and Other Jobs." -- Anne Barngrover, Monadnock Essay Collection Prize judge, and author of Brazen Creature"Baptizing the Dead and Other Jobs is not about Mormonism. It's about the human condition, and the brilliant nonfiction writer Michael William Palmer has nailed it in this collection. The first and last essays are masterpieces of the current form. It's a mix of the traditional and the experimental, exactly what American literature has been since its beginning. Nothing is predictable in this book. That's why it's nothing less than art." -- Dennis Covington, author of Salvation on Sand Mountain
About the Author
Michael William Palmer's work has appeared in Bellingham Review, CutBank, Georgetown Review, Alligator Juniper, and numerous other publications. He received his PhD in English-Creative Writing from Texas Tech University. He grew up in Utah and currently lives in Forest Park, Illinois. Baptizing the Dead and Other Jobs is his first book.
