Esquire Ball, Stories from the Great Black Swamp

By: Robinson, Lisa Slage

With a nod to Borges, Kafka, and Daphne du Maurier, Esquire Ball, Stories from the Great Black Swamp is a Midwestern gothic collection of thirteen linked stories in which a young female attorney discovers what it takes to succeed.

In this debut collection, set primarily in 1980s Northwest Ohio, ambitious men marry frog wives; a mother-daughter duo trap souls in farmhouse windows; a teenager drowns in a sea of corn; an associate breaks into a client's house to steal a token of remembrance; and a PhD candidate reveals the secrets of the universe while having a threesome with her boyfriend and a tree. Through the lens of magical feminism, and braiding in fairytales and mythology, Esquire Ball examines the gray side of ethics, the tyranny of ambition, and the collateral damage left in its wake.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1625571801
• ISBN13: 9781625571809
• Release Date: February 2026
• Publisher: Black Lawrence Press
• Length: 158 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.5"