title: The Art and Craft of Fiction: A Writer's Guide
author:  Michael Kardos 
description: <span>Michael Kardos is the Pushcart Prize-winning author of the novels <i>Bluff</i> (coming 2018), <i>Before He Finds Her</i> (2015) and <i>The Three-Day Affair</i>, named by Esquire as a Best Book of 2012, and the story collection <i>One Last Good Time</i>, winner of the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters award for fiction. He has a degree in music from Princeton University and played the drums professionally for a number of years before receiving his MFA from Ohio State and his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri. He currently lives in Starkville, Mississippi, where he co-directs the creative writing program at Mississippi State.</span><br /><br /><span>Visit michaelkardos.com for reading group guides and upcoming events.</span>
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  [patriciabarletta.com](http://www.patriciabarletta.com/)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Published Internationally by Patricia Barletta
  
  Boston, MA
  
  Copyright © 2018 Patricia Barletta
  
  [patriciabarletta.com](http://www.patriciabarletta.com/)
  
  Exclusive cover © 2018 [mightyunicorn.ca](http://www.mightyunicorn.ca/)
  
  Interior design by Tamara Cribley
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  All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced,
  transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
  recording, or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the author,
  Patricia Barletta, is an infringement of the copyright law.
  
  PRINT ISBN 978-1-7324769-5-0
  
  EBOOK ISBN 978-1-7324769-4-3
  
  Editor: Joanna D’Angelo
  
  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either
  the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any
  resemblance to any person or persons, living or dea