{"product_id":"severance-stories-9780811856140","title":"Severance: Stories","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSeverance: Stories\u003c\/strong\u003e by Butler, Robert Olen. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780811856140.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe human head is believed to remain in a state of consciousness for one and one-half minutes after decapitation. In a heightened state of emotion, people speak at the rate of 160 words per minute. Inspired by the intersection of these two seemingly unrelated concepts, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Olen Butler wrote sixty-two stories, each exactly 240 words in length, capturing the flow of thoughts and feelings that go through a persons mind after their head has been severed. The characters are both real and imaginedMedusa (beheaded by Perseus, 2000 BC), Anne Boleyn (beheaded at the behest of Henry VIII, 1536), a chicken (beheaded for Sunday dinner, Alabama, 1958), and the author (decapitated, on the job, 2008). Told with the intensity of a poet and the wit of a great storyteller, these final thoughts illuminate and crystallize more about the characters own lives and the worlds they inhabit than many writers manage to convey in full-length biographies or novels. The stories, which have appeared in literary magazines across the country, are a delightful and intriguing creative feat from one of todays most inventive writers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Chronicle Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45256174436405,"sku":"ByrdShop_0811856143","price":20.84,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780811856140_a1f4bf9b-6516-4b43-867b-3c4a09f75693.jpg?v=1779938195","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/severance-stories-9780811856140","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}