The Ice Cream Man and Other Stories

“Pink is a keen observer of the culture of minimum-wage jobs and low-rent studio apartments that is the reality of life for all those who don't find a cog space in today’s hyper-capitalist economy.” —The Guardian Cone dealer, sunshine stealer, alleyway counselor, lunch lady to the homeless, friend to the dead, maker of sandwiches. Metal wrangler. Stag among stags. And so it goes—another journey through time spent punched in. A life's work of working for a living. Blood, death, and violence. Dirty dishes, dead roaches, and sparkler-lit nights. Nights ahead and no real fate. So open your mouths because the forecast calls for sprinkles. Thirteen delights, scooped and served. Let it melt down your hand. Let the sun burn your face. It's the ice cream man, and other stories. " —Jeff Waxman, WORD Bookstore (Brooklyn, NY) "Sam Pink, song man of the wageworker, has written a collection of stories I'm over the moon about. They are absurd, dark, and deeply true. As a writer, he sees those around him in perfect clarity, meaning he has an awareness of their context, not just what they happen to be saying or doing in that precise story moment. That contextual sensitivity is important because what he's looking at is the working poor of America (this gal included). He knows the toll of repetition, pain, futility, and humiliation built into the code of most service jobs. He also knows that it's the humans around you that make it all kind of fine, depicting everyone in his world with mighty precision, humor, and grace. He has an irascible goofy streak that floods his destitute and powerless with a light and sparkling joy—with connection. Throughout, the book connects, and it left me full. Hard to get at how fun a book this is to read. I also have to say, he gained my trust as a reader when, (*spoiler alert*) in one story, he treats the murder of a female character with appropriate rage and disturbance. Rather than turn his narrative toward fascination with the act itself, he's tuned into the loss of a person. This is surprisingly rare and completed my confidence in his profound empathy." —Molly Moore, BookPeople (Austin, TX) "Sam Pink just gets it. It being the stupid-funny highs and kick-in-the-heart lows of being a classic American low-rent dirtbag. Punch-drunk, weird, and weary, these stories get right down to the day-in, day-out business of what it’s like to survive the grating, ridiculous grind of being poor and aimless. The dishwater’s hatred, sprinkles of kitchen Spanish, a temporary sense of accomplishment, drinking in the alley, bologna and cheese. Working for the weekend, feeling free. Sam Pink gets it, man." —Chris Lee, Boswell Book Company (Milwaukee, WI) "In Sam Pink’s perceptive short story collection, potent sentences resonate in the