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The stories collected in This Is Not the Tropics come from the geographic center of a divided nation, and its protagonists evoke a split personality--one half submerged in America's own diehard mythology, the other half searching to escape tradition. Together they form a portrait of the Plains that is both quirky and poignant. While the themes in this collection are familiar--love and betrayal, loneliness and regret, the needs of the individual versus the needs of the community--the tales themselves are startling and new. Whether it is the story of an eccentric out-of-work accordion player; a woman ending a long marriage against the backdrop of a visit from her failing mother; a young girl who wishes to solve a mystery until real mystery enters her life; or all of the men in a small Nebraska town who annually compete in a hilariously earnest beauty pageant, these are tales that speak of the lives lived in the small towns, the prairie cities, and on the dirt roads off blue highways in the middle of nowhere and everywhere.

“An utterly remarkable debut collection ... offers up a clear-eyed portrait of the Plains, marked by heartache, fear, loneliness and regret ... Quite honestly, this is the finest collection I've seen in years.”

—Publisher's Weekly

“Ladette Randolph's stories sink their teeth into the deep Nebraska Midwest the way that Flannery O'Connor tore into the heart of Georgia. There's a wonderfully sly, deadpan sweetness at work here, so that it may take a moment to realize how odd and twisty the stories are. Randolph seems like such a nice, earnestly polite young woman — and then suddenly your wallet is missing and she's driving away in your car! These are beautifully crafty, beguiling stories: witty, wise, and wicked.”

—Dan Chaon

“Ladette Randolph's stories have the sly, subtle intensity of a snake gliding through grass. They sneak up on their characters and the reader alike, invoking humor, grace, and wisdom before pouncing on us with exhilarating epiphanies that are as dark and brutal as they are hopeful.”

—Meghan Daum, The Quality of Life Report and My Misspent Youth

“These are stories of compassion and surprising generosity, as characters who have been trapped find escape, who have been lonely find company, and who have endured loss face not sorrow, but transformation.”

—Erin McGraw, The Good Life: Stories

“Ladette Randolph, in her fifteen hypnotic tales, offers up a clear-eyed, captivating portrait of the Plains marked by heartache, fear, loneliness and regret. A resigned housewife trapped in a loveless marriage, on the verge of fleeing town with a reliable, good-hearted married man, finds her best-laid plans unravel when her husband unexpectedly dies in "Billy". In the poignant, unnerving, "Hyacinths", an unsettling, unexpected pregnancy and the possibility of a church group's dubious intervention, causes a once cheerful mother to become an agent of order, rebelling against the hypocrisy of a town "fossilized in the past". A college student tasked with house-sitting her eccentric professor's home replete with pornographic art and mass-murderer coffee table books and his two melodramatic, lovesick dogs to her friends' mockery and chagrin ironically discovers that her seemingly normal friendships are more horrific and fake than the home which is pure, without pretense in the collection's gem, "The Girls". In a small Nebraska town, homegrown men rally for the annual "queen contest" serves as the hilarious backdrop for a daughter facing anxiety over her families' reaction to her upcoming nuptials to a black man, but in the end, finds herself surprised by her capacity to underestimate the ones she loves in "Miss Kielbasa". In these elegant tales, Randolph eschews Middle America stereotypes to reveal vivid, complex characters, compromised in love, family and society, battling tradition amidst reality to render these prairie city inhabitants with inexorable heart, compassion and truth. Quite honestly, this is the finest collection I've seen in years. Certainly, one could compare Miss Randolph's stories to Flannery O'Connor mixed with a little Lorrie Moore & Alice Munro. Her stories aren't flashy, over-indulgent, rather they are quiet and subtle and completely heartbreaking. These are normal people living normal lives and somehow, Randolph makes them extraordinary, memorable people.”

—Felicia Sullivan, Black Spiral Notebook

“In this collection, Randolph's stories are set in small towns in Nebraska and brim with timeless truths about love, insecurity, and the glue that holds relationships together. In "What She Knows" an unmarried and pregnant 22-year-old struggles with her options until realizing how much she already loves her unborn son, who she knows will have red hair and freckles, and play trombone "with gusto" in his grade-school band. In "Billy" a long-suffering wife's alcoholic husband dies before she can carry out her brave plan to leave him. Most stories have an obvious main theme and a subtle underlying one, providing an unexpected twist with surprising depth. In "Miss Kielbasa," for example, Randolph depicts a family's harried and hilarious participation in the town's annual drag queen contest; on the periphery lies the daughter's dread of telling her parents that her new boyfriend is black. From the wife who discovers her husband has a gay lover to the accordion player in a polka band, Randolph gets each and every character just right.”

—Deborah Donovan, Booklist

“An accomplished, engaging debut collection that displays an impressive range. These are wise, heartfelt, and graceful stories.”

—Marly Swick