Shufflers
by Frank Haberle
Print ISBN: 978-1-7364033-2-7
eBook ISBN: 978-1-7364033-3-4
In the tradition of Denis Johnson and Charles Bukowski, author Frank Haberle’s 48 interwoven stories will take you to minimum wage America of the 1980s, where opportunities are few and situations are precarious. Sometimes funny but always honest, Shufflers is a grand tour of a world in which no one hopes to travel, a world we see just out of the corner of our eyes.
Danny is an underemployed transient who drifts from New York City, the East Coast, and through the American West seeking itinerant work where work is available—in places such as factories and canneries, constructions sites and fishing boats, a fry shack and on an auction-house floor. Danny, often cold and hungry, sometimes drunk, and always struggling to survive, tries to avoid becoming just one more “shuffler.” Along the way, he learns about resilience and fortitude from the usually invisible characters who populate the fringes of our world.
Frank Haberle’s short stories have won awards from Pen Parentis, Beautiful Loser Magazine, Freshwater Review, and the Sustainable Arts Foundation, and have appeared in more than 30 magazines. Frank is a workshop leader for the NY Writers Coalition. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and three children.
A portion of the proceeds from Shufflers goes to NY Writers Coalition, a non-profit organization helping traditionally silenced and under-heard New Yorkers to find their voices through the art of creative writing.
See an interview of Haberle with Blood Bought Books in New Mexico
Read an interview with Frank Haberle in Compass Points
Read an interview of Frank Haberle at Authors Answer
“A masterpiece of literary fiction by an author with a genuine flair for a truly engaging originality, ‘Shufflers’ is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to community, college, and university library Urban Fiction and Contemporary American Literary Fiction collections. ”
“As a panoramic portrait of Reagan’s America seen through the eyes of Danny, an everyman factotum who’s a precursor to the gig worker, Shufflers is quietly incendiary and has never been more timely. Echoing the works of John Dos Passos and Hubert Selby Jr., Frank Haberle’s novel in stories remind us how close we all are to falling through the rotting floorboards of the America we refuse to see. ”
“Frank Haberle is a storyteller’s storyteller - down-to-earth, subtle, humble, but confident when it counts. In Shufflers he blends experience, craft, wisdom and wit to put forth a collection of tales that will move you emotionally when you read it- and mean even more to you after you read it.”
“I love Frank Haberle’s stories and will dive into a new one any chance I can get—face first, off a cliff, without looking. I know I will land knee-deep in nostalgic music and memorable events, then swim around in painful regrets surrounded by beautiful imagery I can’t shake—and I will just lie there floating happy. Open this collection anywhere and become an instant fan.”
“I yearn for a world that embraces eccentrics and perhaps deems them prophets. Shufflers, introduces us to folks now faded into crevices –the Stickmans, Cashtown Annies, and T-Shirt Ladies who continue to struggle with dignity in a divided 21st century America. Frank Haberle’s skillfully rendered stories remind us to pay attention to damaged individuals, renew our capacities to have spontaneous experiences, and remember the what-the-hellishness of youth.”
“Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.”