readers of fiction, fans of women writers "This marvelously witty romp through the postmodern American West is a delightful and fresh point of view with a narrative voice that recalls the best of Tom Robbins and Jane Smiley without being imitative or derivative in the least. The heroine/narrator of this finely wrought story of a dysfunctional family that manages to pull it all together when the going gets ... well, ridiculous ... is just plain fun. Never a dull word here, just angst revealed in a candid and totally original and utterly fun story that creates an appetite for more. It is a nearly perfect novella." -- Clay Reynolds , Series Judge "Rebecca Bailey's novella The Only Road There Is arrives at the perfect moment in this national season of doom and gloom. A narrator whose 80-year-old mother is an internet junkie is certainly going to cheer me up. Rebecca Bailey may be the only American fiction writer whose unafraid sense of humor rings out loud and clear in these times. Narrator Brenda Marlene Simpkins' spoken language is fresh as a cold mountain stream as she tells the story of her road trip from Kentucky to 'out west' with her dear old and frustrating mother. These two women-on-the road are American original characters as striking and necessary as Huck and Jim or Thelma and Louise. Bailey's brilliant, lively writing in a unique regional idiom (Kentucky Modern, it would be called) lifts The Only Road There Is to the realm of artistry. I think this book establishes Rebecca Bailey high on the list of new-century American fiction writers. She is a fine poet, too." — Gurney Norman , author of Divine Right's Trip and Kinfolks " The Only Road There Is sparkles with the same rare, creative energy that makes Rebecca Bailey a prize-winning short story writer and poet."  — John Engle , author of Tree People , Modern Odyssey , and numerous other poetry collections "This marvelously witty romp through the postmodern American West is a delightful and fresh point of view with a narrative voice that recalls the best of Tom Robbins and Jane Smiley without being imitative or derivative in the least. The heroine/narrator of this finely wrought story of a dysfunctional family that manages to pull it all together when the going gets ... well, ridiculous ... is just plain fun. Never a dull word here, just angst revealed in a candid and totally original and utterly fun story that creates an appetite for more. It is a nearly perfect novella." -- Clay Reynolds , Series Judge -- Clay Reynolds, Series Judge REBECCA BAILEY is the author of the poetry collections A Wild Kentucky Garden and Reign of the Girl-King . Her awards include an Al Smith Fellowship in Fiction from the Kentucky Arts Council in 2001 and a residency at the Montana Artists Refuge in Basin, Montana, in 2000. She lives in rural eastern Kentucky with her husband and animals. She enjoys hiking, gardening, reading, paper marbling, and hand bookbinding. She teaches writing at Morehead State University Used Book in Good Condition