FROSTBURG — The Frostburg Center for Creative Writing is celebrating the release of Center Director Gerry LaFemina’s first collection of short stories, “Wish List,” with a reading and reception Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Main Street Books in downtown Frostburg. The event is free and open to the public.

LaFemina, who has taught in Frostburg State University’s Department of English since 2004, is the author of seven previous collections of poetry and prose poetry, but this is his debut collection of fiction.

Part punk rock concept album, part poetic observation, and part man-in-the-street reporting, “Wish List” chronicles the lives of people who just might be someone you know. His characters — alienated teens, mid-life crisis adults, those suffering from loss or from love — are survivors of the ordinary traumas of America.

“Reading these stories is like taking a walk on the top rail of a suspension bridge–all belief and carelessness–sad and comic and altogether human,” said acclaimed writer Jonis Agee.

Author Reginald McKnight adds about the book: “There are 1001 reasons to read Gerry LaFemina’s masterful stories about addicts, jacked-up families, ad hoc dance clubs, barely sane vinyl record collectors, angry nerds, gamblers and love–both stunted and verdant. You’ll encounter unforgettable characters drawn with just the right shadow, just the right light; you’ll love the descriptive passages that only an adept poetic sensibility could write; you’ll be conveyed smoothly by the El Dorado narrative pace.”

LaFemina’s stories have appeared in a variety of literary journals, and his story “Proofreading America” received the North American International Auto Show fiction prize in 1999.

For more information, contact Main Street Books at (301) 689-5605 or the Frostburg Center for Creative Writing at (301) 687-4024