How do we find the courage to change? In The Exit Coach, a collection of six stories and a novella, the characters arrive at an impasse that requires them to step out of the wreckage of their habituated lives. It is the entrance of an unexpected voice—a visitor from France, a retired talent scout, an invisible friend, a midnight phone call, or even a wild animal—that disrupts their patterns of behavior and illuminates the possibilities they’ve been blind to, pointing the way to an exit they’ve dreamt of, but lacked the courage to enter.

MEGAN STAFFEL divides her time between western New York State and Brooklyn. She is the author of two novels and two collections of short fiction. The Exit Coach is her third collection. Since 1976 she has taught writing at the college level and currently teaches in the MFA program at Warren Wilson College. She has two adult children and lives with her acupuncturist husband. Visit www.meganstaffel.com for more information.