coming october 20, 2026 from cornerstone press
BULLIES&COWARDS
stories by KEVIN GRAUKE
A divorced father, whose son is being bullied in school, picks a fight with the bully's father in an effort to impress and win back his ex-wife; a little girl reacts in anger to her dying grandfather's weakness; two young boys become obsessed with a disturbed man who attends their church; an insecure husband resents his wife's interest in seeing one of her old boyfriends; and an old man struggles to recover from his troubled nephew's attempt to stage an atrocity. Award-winning writer Kevin Grauke returns with a gut-punch of a collection, asking: What makes a bully? What makes a coward? Who determines what makes a person one or the other? How does one avoid being either? Bullies & Cowards reveals the darkness and courage buried in each of us.
Reviews
"As brutal as it is beautiful...Without question, Grauke is one of our finest short story writers today." - Jonathan Danielson, author of The Lowest Basin: Arizona Stories
"Tender, harrowing, and darkly funny...Grauke's prose slows time at the exact moment it threatens to break, illuminating the fragile, stubborn humanity in all of us. "
- Darren DeFrain, author of Inside & Out
"These characters will surprise you, and sometimes themselves. . . . another fantastic achievement by Kevin Grauke." - Chris Haven, author of Nesting Habits of Flightless Birds
Kevin Grauke
Kevin Grauke is the award-winning author of Shadows of Men and West of Destry. His stories, essays, and poetry have appeared in Fiction, The Southern Review, The Threepenny Review, Story Quarterly, and Quarterly West, among many others. A third collection of stories, Bullies & Cowards, is forthcoming from Cornerstone Press in Fall 2026. Belle Point Press will be publishing his first collection of essays in 2027.
Born and raised in Texas, he now lives in Philadelphia. He teaches at La Salle University.