In RAIL WALKING and Other Stories, Pushcart-nominated writer Linda L. Dunlap invites readers into the lives of characters who struggle to stay hopeful in a troubled world even while the ground shifts precariously beneath their feet.

Dunlap sets her debut collection in the South, but the theme of the stories, man's battle with himself, and the issues with which the characters struggle, are universal. The guilt over an imperfect child, the disruption of a marriage by betrayal and old age, the moral dilemma of abortion, and the almighty task of loving the unlovable. Characters are...