Book excerpt: "an anthology that’s ... eclectic, drunk and delicious." —The New York Times If you love pie, whiskey, and good writing, this collection of funny and heartbreaking stories, poems, and recipes serves up a plethora of pleasure. What happens when good writing is inspired by and served with a slice of pie and a shot of whiskey? Pie & Whiskey is a literary event series started in Spokane, Washington, where the idea was to serve good pie, good whiskey, and good writers reading prose or poetry about pie and whiskey. This collection features the best original work from the series by writers such as Anthony Doerr, Elissa Washuta, Kim Barnes, and more. Proving that good writing is best served with a slice of pie and a shot of whiskey, a smattering of pie recipes and whiskey-centric cocktails are included alongside dozens of surprising, funny, heartbreaking, fantastically written stories and poems by Jess Walter, J Robert Lennon, Kim Barnes, and ML Smoker and more. Full contributor list: Kim Addonizio • Steve Almond • Kim Barnes • Devin Becker • Judy Blunt • Anthony Doerr • Thom Caraway • Elizabeth J. Colen • Debra Magpie Earling • Christopher Howell • Sherrie Flick • Jacob H. Fries • Nina Mukerjee Furstenau • Margot Kahn • Meissa Kwasny • Kate Lebo • J. Robert Lennon • Samuel Ligon • Gary Copeland Lilley • Robert Lopez • Tod Marshall • Virginia Reeves • Laura Read • Paisley Rekdal • Nicole Sheets • M. L. Smoker • Alexandra Teague • Rachel Toor • Robert Wrigley • Ed Skoog • Jess Walter • Shawn Vestal • Elissa Washuta • Joe Wilkins • Nance Van Winckel • Kristen Millares Young • Maya Jewell Zeller