Yusuf Parish Jimmy: Two stories from the Heart of Texas and one from the Arkansas Delta collects three of Keith Hale’s shorter works of fiction into one volume. In Breathless, a high school senior in small town Arkansas finds a new boy in class on the first day of school–a handsome exchange student from Turkey whose presence in town causes a stir. As the friendship develops, hearts and minds are stirred as well, especially when the young Turk attempts to teach his new American friend the traditional Turkish sport of oil wrestling. Nothing Strikes Back asks the question, What do you do when your girlfriend’s younger brother is the best-looking person on the planet and has a thing for you? Parish doesn’t know what he’s going to do, but he’s about to find out. Hale pieces together an Austin short story that is both charming and sexy. As usual, the narrative voice is winsome and the characters are inviting in this tale of friendship between a younger male who knows he’s gay and the guy getting dumped by his sister. Truck is a Waco tale in which Hale explores the relationship between gay and straight best friends. Chris has been in love with his best friend Jimmy since childhood. While Chris is at college, Jimmy is sent to prison. Now Jimmy is free once more and the two meet again. Chris, or Topi, as Jimmy calls him, begins to understand that Jimmy is not the only one who has made mistakes. With eyes wide open, both men re-examine their friendship in a narrative as sparse as the Central Texas setting.