“A raw collection of stories that’s not to be overlooked.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“Readers of literary fiction and clear-eyed portraiture of American lives will do well to seize these bruising, finely wrought stories.”

—Booklife

“Bales’s stories fearlessly trace the grasping tentacles of generational trauma, leaving readers to reckon with truths that land like a punch to the solar plexus.”

— Jeanetta Calhoun Mish, Oklahoma State Poet Laureate, 2017-- 2020

“Even the shortest of these pieces asks a lot of us, and then gives more in return. Difficult stories for difficult times, wonderfully rendered and open hearted."

— David Crouse, author of The Man Back There and Copy Cats

“Pekolah Stories is more than a debut. It is a collection that sings both beautifully and heartbreakingly, a book of stories as fantastic as any ever written.."

—Sheldon Lee Compton, author of Sway