"Will you write about us, too?" she said after a while. "Will you write about how happy we were when we stood here together?" "I'll try to," I said. "It's a hard thing to write about. Nobody wants to read about two people who are happy. People like stories much better where everyone is unhappy and nothing works out." - from Hephaestus Thomas Tull's vivid debut chronicles a romantic relationship from beginning to end. James and Katherine meet in college, date, get married, honeymoon, grow old. The life they lived on the world's center stage - as the young and promising married couple - fades into unremarkable middle age. James' work doesn't interest him, and he drinks too much; Katherine lives a life separate but contained within their shared life. Hephaestus is a stark, poetic, and unflinching look at the slow and unprotested ebbing of youth and all of its promise. Written by Thomas Tull Cover design by Tom Maven