Available now from Cornerstone Press
- A chimpanzee is stolen from Cameroon and rocketed to space as the test flight for John Glenn's historic orbit; a former child star struggles to stay sober; a prehistoric mammal imagines a better version of itself; a trio of ragpickers strip Union and Confederate dead of their clothes; a couple sees the woods move; the former commissaire of the French Congo investigates atrocities. Eclectic in its breadth and startling in its power, The Commission of Inquiry investigates life, death, and other matters, as Patrick Nevins delivers twenty stories built to surprise, challenge, and even change us.
Wonderful and bracing doesn’t begin to describe this collection, and I read these stories with the enthusiasm of a kid given a View-Master for the first time. Nevins’ range is incredible, and as one moves through these stories the feeling of what is possible opens up for the reader even as, for the characters, things may be—and often are—closing down. Enos the chimp has my heart.”
—Ethan Rutherford author of Farthest South: Stories
The Commission of Inquiry traverses time and space and even species to plumb the depths of human failings and longings. . . . Through it all, Patrick Nevins moors his impressive range of subjects with profound insights into who we are.”
—Jennifer Wortman author of This. This. This. Is. Love. Love. Love.
‘But I want to know what they’re saying.’ Readers of this wide-ranging, far-reaching collection will keep turning pages, spurred on by that wanting, too.”
—Sara Lippmann author of Lech and Jerks