A collection of short stories by Oklahoma author Mark Walling. "In the Choctaw language, Oklahoma means 'courageous nation' or 'brave people, ' and in these Oklahoma stories by Mark Walling, readers encounter different varieties of courage from characters who feel grounded in this region-and rooted to it. is an important collection from a writer who burns with hopefulness and heart." -Aaron Gwyn, author of and "Mark Walling writes about his characters with great empathy, but his tone is never cloying. He puts us in the minds of these people, tells us what happened to them, and gets out of the way. Consequently, I felt very close to all of them, and I admired this book enormously." -Steve Yarbrough