{"product_id":"black-jesus-and-other-superheroes-stories-9781496201867","title":"Black Jesus and Other Superheroes: Stories","description":"2018 PEN America Literary Award Winner-Los Angeles \u003cbr\u003e Winner of the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction, \u003ci\u003eBlack Jesus and Other Superheroes\u003c\/i\u003e chronicles ordinary people achieving vivid extrasensory perception while under extreme pain. The stories tumble into a universe of the jaded and the hopeful, in which men and women burdened with unwieldy and undesirable superhuman abilities are nonetheless resilient in subtle and startling ways. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Venita Blackburn's characters hurl themselves toward the inevitable fates they might rather wish away. Their stories play with magic without the sparkle, glaring at the internal machinations of the human spirit. Fragile symbols for things such as race, sexuality, and love are lifted, decorated, and exposed to scrutiny and awe like so many ruins of our imagination. Through it all Blackburn's characters stumble along currents of language both thoughtful and hilarious.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eVenita Blackburn \u003c\/b\u003eis an assistant professor of creative writing at California State University, Fresno. Her works have appeared or are forthcoming in the newyorker.com, \u003ci\u003eHarpers\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ePloughshares, \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eMcSweeney's\u003c\/i\u003e, the \u003ci\u003eParis Review\u003c\/i\u003e, and other venues. She is founder of the literary nonprofit \u003ci\u003eLive, Write\u003c\/i\u003e (livewriteworkshop.com), which provides free creative writing workshops for communities of color. Blackburn's second collection of stories, \u003ci\u003eHow to Wrestle a Girl\u003c\/i\u003e, will be published in the fall of 2021. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Nebraska Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50662463275282,"sku":"9781496201867","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_c85f261e-5d80-4685-be25-f8dfae792303.jpg?v=1733524715","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/black-jesus-and-other-superheroes-stories-9781496201867","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}