The Dandelion Cloud, Dale Boyer’s remarkable debut novel, told the story of three friends coming to terms with love and sexuality in the late 1970s in the small, college town of Thornton, Illinois. In Thornton Stories, Boyer continues the themes of that earlier work through a series of inter-connected stories that create a modern day Winesburg, Ohio. Here are students, teachers, and small-town residents, all trying to make sense of loneliness and love. His new book stands on its own, but -- for those who have read The Dandelion Cloud -- also enriches the understanding. Intriguingly, this new set of stories is told by other characters on the campus or in the town, sometimes at the same time as the events of the novel. Thornton Stories is a rich and wonderful experience: a series of stories that work independently, yet link together like a puzzle to deepen our understanding of the overall themes, as well as the previous novel and its characters. It is an ingenious, penetrating, and insightful work that continues to signify that Dale Boyer is an important and exciting new literary voice.