The Other Ones

Overview

What would you do if a group of your fellow office workers won the lottery? The Other Ones tracks the actions and reactions of multiple characters in the wake of this cataclysmic event, tracing the effect it has on them, for good and bad, over the following year. Some dig in, some quit, some go more than a little crazy. One commits suicide by jumping off the roof of the office, then returns as a ghost to haunt the winners. Funny, tragic, and real, The Other Ones shines a light on our contemporary relationships to money, work, and one another.

Reviews

Blurbs for previous books: For Howard and Charles at the Factory: "A pitch-perfect funhouse mirror view of our ridiculous times. We're all Howard and Charles standing in front of a closed factory waiting for the world we knew to make sense. Read this in front of a shuttered factory, while looking for dinosaurs and UFOs, or just any moment you want to feel pleasure in a mad, mad world." —Rion Amilcar Scott, author of The World Doesn't Require You  

"Waiting for Godot for Trump voters — or rather, for the people trying and failing to understand them. Like so much of Housley's best work, absurdity simmers and spills over in this story, funny and unexpectedly sad in the best, scathing-est way." —Amber Sparks, author of And I Do Not Forgive You  

For Massive Cleansing Fire: "Dave Housley has always been unparalleled in his ability to mock and embrace American pop culture in his fiction, and in his latest collection of linked stories, each ending in fire or the aftermath of an apocalyptic event, he raises the stakes, making us wonder what is scarier: the end of the world as we know it or the absurdity of the world as it is? With alternating wit and empathy, he has a deft touch in unearthing our shortcomings and also commiserating with us about them. Dave Housley is our Howard Zinn for the end times." —Jen Michalski, author of The Summer She Was Under Water

 "Who says compassion can't co-exist with playfulness? Dave Housley strikes a match with these short stories that flicker between love and anxiety, life and death." —Leslie Pietrzyk, author of Silver Girl  

For This Darkness Got to Give: "Dave Housley has done something remarkable here. He's managed to combine a compelling procedural, a unique vampire tale, twin portrayals of loneliness and addiction, and a lovely, honest homage to the Grateful Dead and their fans in one outstanding book. I promise you - it's unlike any book you've ever opened. This is a novel you'll read quickly and never forget." —E.A. Aymar, author of The Unrepentant  

"A trippy, unique spin on the vampire mythology that'll satisfy Deadheads and noir purists alike." —J. L. Delozier, author of Con Me Once

Author Biography

Dave Housley is a writer, editor, and web strategist living in State College, PA. He has published two previous novels and four books of short fiction. He is one of the founding editors of the literary organization Barrelhouse. He is the Director of Web Strategy at Penn State Outreach and Online Education. He lives in State College, Pennsylvania.