• Home
• Our Books
• Fiction
• 20 Short Stories

20 Short Stories

by Gracjan Kraszewski

   0 reviews

• Product Code: tss
• Publication date: June 30, 2026
• Pages: 180
• Size: 5.5 x 8.5

• $18.95

Cover

Paperback

Hardback (+$10.00)

•   Description
•   Table of Contents
•   About the Author

• 20 Short Stories

  By Gracjan Kraszewski · Catholic Fiction · Short Stories

  An engaging collection of short fiction from Gracjan Kraszewski, 20 Short Stories offers readers an excellent introduction to one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Catholic literature.

  Overview

  20 Short Stories—a compilation of Gracjan Kraszewski's short fiction—is an excellent and eminently digestible introduction to the author’s work and his “Catholic postmodernism” approach, one that aims at presenting the timeless Good, True, and Beautiful but by way of engaging the current culture rather than fleeing from it. Kraszewski has said, many times, “we cannot just read C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, Chesterton, and Flannery O’Connor on repeat until the end of time pretending as if nothing has changed in all the years since they first took up the pen.” Indeed. Furthermore, perhaps one finds his 900 page novel Thermonuclear Mirth too complex and intimidating. Perhaps you do not know what to make of his Augustinian themed Mark and Anna: Models. Perhaps you just like the short story format, wherein one can attain the satisfaction of a complete story in a few pages.

  20 Short Stories will satisfy the aforementioned three groups and anyone else, especially readers of Catholic work, who find the presentation of “Catholic art” often stale, rote, and as if drawn from an assembly line, cookie cutting factory specializing in the catch-all bland. Kraszewski’s work is different and, without question, this book hopes to be but a springboard into, eventually, taking up his longer and more challenging works so as to join him in the pressing work of presenting the ever ancient, ever new truths of the Faith to a much tired world lacking patience for the mass production of books and movies and podcasts who never fail to present their message within the tight confines of conformity.

  What This Collection Offers:

  • Twenty complete works of short fiction from a contemporary Catholic writer.
  • An accessible introduction to Gracjan Kraszewski’s literary style and imagination.
  • A fresh approach to Catholic fiction that avoids formulaic piety and artistic blandness.
  • A serious engagement with modern culture through stories rooted in Catholic truth.
  • A springboard into the author’s longer works, including Thermonuclear Mirth and Mark and Anna: Models.

  For new readers of Kraszewski: this collection is an ideal starting point. It is shorter, more approachable, and immediately varied, while still bearing the marks of the author’s larger literary project.

  Recommended For

  • Readers of contemporary Catholic fiction
  • Fans of short stories and literary fiction
  • Readers interested in Catholic engagement with modern culture
  • Those looking for fiction beyond formulaic or predictable religious storytelling
  • Anyone curious about Gracjan Kraszewski’s longer works but unsure where to begin

  Key Themes

  • Catholic Postmodernism: engaging modern culture without surrendering Catholic truth.
  • The Good, True, and Beautiful: perennial realities presented through contemporary fiction.
  • Literary Experiment: stories that resist the blandness of formulaic Catholic art.
  • Cultural Weariness: fiction written for a world tired of mass production and conformity.
  • The Short Story Form: complete narratives that can be read, absorbed, and pondered in a brief span.

  Available Formats

  Paperback $18.95 USD

  Hardcover $28.95 USD

  Product Details

  • Title: 20 Short Stories
  • Author: Gracjan Kraszewski
  • Genre: Fiction / Short Stories
  • Paperback: $18.95 USD
  • Hardcover: $28.95 USD

• Contents

  20 Short Stories gathers a wide-ranging collection of Gracjan Kraszewski’s short fiction, moving from satire and cultural critique to spiritual drama, literary playfulness, and contemporary Catholic imagination.

  1. 0 Explanatory Note
  2. Story 1 Albert Albertson
  3. Story 2 No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
  4. Story 3 Chernobyl on the Palouse
  5. Story 4 La Légèreté Insoutenable de l’Humidité
  6. Story 5 Les quatre cents et un coups à la pomme d’Adam; or — but really always absoludefinitely and — Beyond Postmodernism [to the] Au-Dela Maximum
  7. Story 6 Mr. Potus McScotus
  8. Story 7 At the Hour of Our Death
  9. Story 8 American Believer
  10. Story 9 Interview Day
  11. Story 10 The Narrow Path to Perfection
  12. Story 11 Sal from Sal and Tommy on AM 740
  13. Story 12 E.K., M.D.
  14. Story 13 I miss actual TV
  15. Story 14 Plagiarism Pays
  16. Story 15 The Last Stand of David Gopher-Bonk
  17. Story 16 The Deluge
  18. Story 17 Illinois
  19. Story 18 Kef Guesthouse
  20. Story 19 First Impressions
  21. Story 20 Organic Honey
  22. Back Matter About the Author
• Gracjan Kraszewski is the author of five books: the novels The Holdout, Thermonuclear Mirth, the novella, Seraphim and the Dust Plague, a book of essays, The Hippo Lectures, and the Civil War history Catholic Confederates. He earned his PhD in history from Mississippi State University and taught at the University of Illinois. He is currently Director of Intellectual Formation at the St. Augustine Center in Moscow, Idaho, while also teaching at the University of Idaho and in Washington State University’s history department and School of Design + Construction. Played baseball in college, professionally in Europe, and for the Polish National Team. Fluent in English, Polish, and French, he possesses intermediate ability in Russian, Italian, and Spanish. 

You May Also Like