The Lone Surfer of Montana, Kansas -- Davy Rothbart

So not only is Davy Rothbart the creator of Found Magazine (easily the coolest magazine there is or ever had been), not only is he a rapper, but now he's written a book of short stories.  (According to the author info, he also contributes to This American Life and is a documentary filmmaker.  He's quickly becoming quite the renaissance man.)

Really decent short stories.  They're sad, smart, achy, and emotionally true.  I especially liked his descriptions (This one is from the title story.):

The sheriff had pulled a chair out into a hallway and sat across from Kyle, thumbing through the pages of a tattered Ranger Rick without reading it.  Since the gunplay, he'd shed every bit of his cockiness and bite, and now, still badly shaken, he reminded me of an NFL coach fired four games into the season, trying not to weep at his press conference.  Usually I'd find great joy in seeing someone brought down by their own idiocy--especially a cop--but the sheriff's hot, billowing self-hatred was almost too much to bear.  I could picture him later that night going for a long drive, oldies station cranked at full volume, two bewildered hounds on the seat beside him, pulling off the road by the creek where he'd first made love to his high-school girlfriend, fighting his way down to the water, tearfully kneeling down and blowing his brains out on the weedy bank.

Plus, Judy Blume is quoted on the book's cover.  What more recommendation do you need?