The Joy of Deception and Other Stories

From North Dakota to Texas, from the painful pleasure of falling in love to the stinging pain of disappointment, from moments of pure victory to the bitterness of failure, this book encapsulates the many facets of the human experience.

"Gretchen Johnson understands small towns are big stages. In The Joy of Deception she shows us in well-crafted short stories the odd, the bored, and the trapped. As one of her characters says about a mop that absorbs all the water in a swimming pool, they 'wish for that kind of magic' in their lives, and they wait for another life to begin, hoping renewal stands in the wings. Their moments of truth, great beauty and disappointment seep from the pages."
—Jennifer Ravey, the PickyGirl.com, 

"What great fun!  In these rollicking stories, Gretchen Johnson's young protagonists try to clout their way to sanity and normality.  But like their defenses, their humanity is wide open, so they never seem to see the punch ready to deck them."  —Jerry Bradley, author of The Importance of Elsewhere