Hicksters

McKean County, Pennsylvania was once oil capital of the world, but all that's left to show for it is a single pump-jack, rocking like a drinking bird next to a McDonald's drive-thru. Every few years, a liberal outlet comes to do a story about it, each time finding a new angle for what that pump-jack says about the area and its people. But to the locals, it's just an oil well in a parking lot. The people who dare to cross the rural/urban divide between McKean County and faraway Pittsburgh have more material concerns. A broke phone sex worker contends with the aftermath of a scam involving a deer carcass gone wrong during COVID. A recovering addict debates whether to share her Suboxone with her estranged daughter. Two buddies leverage hipster foodways to get laid, an adjunct does battle with one of his incel students, a doctor tries to solve a rash of deformities, and a heartsick young woman returns home with her high school science teacher in her sights. With a clear-eyed love for his people and plenty of shade for liberal piety, Maynard's stories explore not only contemporary rural life but also confront the urban gaze through which its usually viewed.