The Fighter - Hardcover

Michael Farris Smith is the author of Desperation Road and Rivers and is the recipient of the 2014 Mississippi Author Award. His short fiction has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and his essays have appeared in the New York Times, Catfish Alley, Deep South Magazine, and more. He lives in Columbus, Mississippi, with his wife and two daughters.

"THE FIGHTER is a beautifully written parable of a man, abandoned as a child, at war with himself. Hiding behind the expertly-handled plot and poetic meditations on violence and substance abuse is the notion that lack of family can send you on a continuous tumble through darkness. With its tension-filled and enlightening final chapters, THE FIGHTER delivers a powerful and engaging read from one of our newest and finest writers."
―Tim Gautreaux, author of THE MISSING


"Michael Farris Smith has inherited the rough south of Larry Brown and created his own rugged terrain. It is a world populated by people with few choices in life, not many of them good. This is another spare, powerful, beautifully composed work by a writer who can probe the dark side of the American dream like no other."―Bill Cusumano, Square Books, Oxford, Ms.

"I loved The Fighter. Michael Farris Smith is one of the most exciting new voices in American fiction. Just as I couldn't put down Desperation Road till I finished, I tore through this novel, as well. I'm hooked."
―Brad Watson, author of Miss Jane

"Beautiful, darkly violent prose, characters that are hard yet worthy of compassion and the unmistakable setting come together in a story that will stick with you long after you finish the last page. I read the last few chapters so fast that when I reached the end I had to pause and absorb, then go back and read them again to make sure I didn't miss a detail."―Dave Lucey, Page 158 Books, Wake Forest, NC


Praise for Michael Farris Smith and Desperation Road:
"An elegantly written, perfectly paced novel about a man and woman indelibly marked by violence. An outstanding performance."
―Ron Rash


"Anchored by prose that is both poetic and brutal, Desperation Road is a gorgeous and violent book. but don't be fooled by the title. Smith's novel teems with the honest and believable humanity that only the bravest writers dare to search for in the most troubled souls."
―Ivy Pochoda


"Michael Farris Smith's Desperation Road reads as if it were forged in a fire stoked by the ghosts of Carson McCullers, Larry Brown, and William Gay. The result is a novel rife with violent beauty and indelible grace."
―Wiley Cash


"Michael Farris Smith is one of the best writers of his generation, and this very well may be his best work--taut, tense, and impossible to put down."―Tom Franklin, author of Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter

"Michael Farris Smith taps into the rhythm of a world I know, and he does it so well, with such ease, that it's almost like I'm living it instead of reading it. His anti-heroes teeter always between the drag-out skids and sweet redemption, and they create a beautiful, true tension that makes this novel burn and thrum in your hands."―Jamie Kornegay, author of Soil