To Begin Again [Paperback]

Jen Knox (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 18, 2011

Winner of the 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Award for Short Fiction, and the 2011 Readers Favorite Award for Women's Fiction, To Begin Again is a lively and unique collection that examines the impact of unexpected and unconventional romance, unforeseen wealth or loss, and the dynamics of family ties, despite distance.

The characters in this collection are eclectic and engaging. Each is faced with a small decision that leads to life-altering circumstance. Some thrive and others surrender; but within each story there is a balance of grittiness and inspiration that will stay with a reader long after the last page.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Moving, intense, yet crafted with a delicate touch...a unique collection of stories that urges us to examine the complex wounds and wonderments of the human experience." --Beth Hoffman, author of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt

"Jen Knox has put her unique characters in situations with twists and turns that constantly surprise..." --Steve Lindahl, author of Motherless Soul

"Knox has once again proven to be a skilled weaver of words..."  --Kenneth Weene, author of Widow's Walk and Memoirs from the Asylum

"Knox explores the human condition with wisdom, subtlety, and the understanding that sometimes just asking the question is answer enough." --Dave Hoing, author of Hammon Falls and Voices of Arra

About the Author

Jen Knox earned her MFA from Bennington's Writing Seminars. She works as a creative writing professor at San Antonio College. She served as Fiction Editor and Workshop Coordinator at Our Stories Literary Journal. Jen's first book was a memoir, Musical Chairs. Some of her short stories and essays have been published or are forthcoming in Annalemma Magazine, Bartleby Snopes, Eclectic Flash, Flashquake, Foundling Review, Fwriction:Review, The Houston Literary Journal, Long Story Short, Metazen, Midwest Literary Magazine, Narrative Magazine, Ramshackle Review, Short Story America, Slow Trains, Superstition Review & Used Furniture Review.

Product Details

• Paperback: 139 pages
• Publisher: All Things That Matter Press (February 18, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0984629785
• ISBN-13: 978-0984629787
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,596,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jen Knox is the author of Musical Chairs and To Begin Again (2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards winner, short stories and Readers Favorite Award for Women's Fiction). In May of 2011, she won the Global Short Story Award. In 2012, her short story Types of Circus was chosen as one of Wigleaf's Top 50.

Jen earned her MFA from Bennington's Writing Seminars. She works as a creative writing professor at San Antonio College and is a mentor for PEN American Center's Prison Writing Program. For four years, she served as a fiction editor at Our Stories Literary Journal.


Some of Jen's short stories and essays have been published or are forthcoming in Annalemma Magazine, Bartleby Snopes, Black Fox, Eclectic Flash, Flashquake, Foundling Review, Fwriction, Gargoyle, The Global Short Story Competition, Houston Literary Journal, Long Story Short, Metazen, Midwest Literary Magazine, Narrative Magazine, PANK, Pure Slush, Ramshackle Review, Short Story America, Slow Trains, SLAB, Superstition Review, and THRUSH.


Book club information and updates about Jen's work can be found at: http://www.jenknox.com/

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark Tales of Lives in Transition September 4, 2011

By Robert Dinsmoor

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Jen Knox's literary landscape is akin to that of Raymond Carver, full of ordinary people moving in an out of their own virtual purgatories, people just getting through life anyway they can. It's all there: scraping by financially, marital infidelities and other betrayals, drugs, and the threat of violence. She clearly knows the people she writes about, and there are surprises at every turn. There are so many standout stories, but to name a few: In "Angelique," patrons of a bar try to buy drinks with AA chips. In "Composure," the narrator's aunt tries to take the civilized approach to dealing with obnoxious upstairs neighbors, and the results are ultimately disastrous. In "Untied," a man thinks he's successfully cheating on his wife, but he's in for a rude awakening. To Begin Again is a pure joy to read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful collection of stories and essays. March 15, 2011

By Jennifer O.

Format:Paperback

Knox's To Begin Again sizzles and crackles with the stuff of life.

I've been guilty of gravitating to mostly popular novels. A great number of them are watered down versions of writing, cotton candy visions wrapped in saccharine adjectives and banal adverbs.

This collection of short stories and essays made my fingers tingle and my feet fidget. I always have a physical reaction to excellent prose; it is something to which I have never been able to become desensitized. But Knox's stories were different: they actually made me want to take out my pen and start writing. Characters on the brink of their own personal realizations, in the act of becoming, are incredibly inspiring, and Knox crafts them with a subtlety and complexity that surpasses expectation.

A teenage girl pinned between the numbing sensations of her parents' divorce and the exhilaration of rebellion and abandon.

A widower coping with the loss of his wife and the sudden appearance of his estranged son.

A woman assaulted for no apparent reason and helped by not one of the many onlookers that day.

A couple scraping by and struggling to break even in face of unemployment, emotional apathy, disillusion, and adultery.

Each story left me wanting to learn more about the characters that inhabit them.

I will keep an eye out for future Knox releases. In the meantime, I will be writing.

Excerpt:

The men I love die and, even if they live, my daily rituals are becoming too all-consuming for me to entertain distracting and emotive pastimes such as romance. I must learn to be methodical if I want to continue to live a productive life. After all, I have been elected for this self-study of old age and must make the most of it. Take, for instance, the curious nature of my own bones as they begin to shrink and curve toward the ground. I had never really noticed my body beginning to hunch over until I got out of bed a year ago, stood up straight and realized that I was still facing the floor. The experience caused me to pay attention to the drastic changes occurring in my body each day. Sometimes I feel honored; it is as though I have been allowed the exclusive experience of old age and I should make the most of it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Rising Star October 6, 2012

By Victor Fortezza

Format:Paperback

The best literature is that which gets life right. This is the case with Jen Knox's story collection, To Begin Again. She is a young author with keen insight into the human condition. She is plumbing her psyche for meaning, one that unites all humanity. She seems to be hunting, searching for the literary holy grail -- the elusive great American novel that resides deep within everyone. Are the stories fiction, non-fiction? It doesn't matter. They ring with universal truths. Three pieces in particular demonstrate the author's prowess. Each deals with the aged. In Absurd Hunger, a man in a mental facility is encouraged by a doctor to write letters to his dead wife, which he at first believes is idiotic. In Solitary Value, two words shouted by a taciturn old woman create intrigue among the residents of an old age home. The final story, Disengaged, poignantly captures the fragmenting mind of a 92-year-old woman, especially in her remembrance of a wounded hand. It is heart-breaking and chilling. I would have rated the book higher if not for the occasional error: pedals rather than petals, mediation rather than meditation; failure to eliminate the original word after a change, i.e., recommended/ran. Readers should not be deterred by this. Even best sellers have them.
I had the privilege of hearing Miss Knox read at the KGB Bar in Manhattan. I will cherish the signed copy I purchased. She is a rising star and All Things That Matter Press is to be commended for putting her work into print.