As the 10th feature of our Mormon Stories Book Club series, we feature Jack Harrell and his short story collection, A Sense of Order and Other Stories.
Jack is currently a writing professor at BYU-Idaho. A Sense of Order and Other Stories contains two award-winning stories (“Calling and Election” and “A Prophet’s Story”); the collection won the award for best short fiction from the Association for Mormon Letters in 2010.
Some excerpts of the book are available here.
This podcast includes a discussion with author Jack Harrell, podcast host Heather Olson Beal, and (very enthusiastic and inquisitive) reader Brent Beal. Shout out to Braeden Jones and Katie Farr Harmer for their help!
Please support Mormon Stories by purchasing A Sense of Order and Other stories through this link. A small amount of the proceeds go to help support Mormon Stories.
6 Responses
I enjoyed your podcast very much. It was intriguing to listen to my colleague’s perspective on the genesis of his short stories as prompted by the sensitive questions of Heather and Brent Beal. I agree that Jack’s stories are redemption or invoke one’s quest for redemption. It’s what makes them “sweet,” as Brent observed–moral and edifying.
I haven’t listened to the podcast just yet, but I wanted to tell Jack that I love the book. I read it when it came out in 2010. I had read “Calling and Election” in Dispensation and was so impressed that I bought A Sense of Order on the spot. It is my favorite book of short stories in the Mormon fiction universe.
I had Brother Harrell for a teacher when I returned to BYU-Idaho online to earn my bachelors degree. I have a minor in English. He’s a great teacher and even though we never met face to face, I enjoyed the class and what I learned from him.
Loved this. Faith in the absence of the authoritarian ‘Natural Man’ is what we all need to be striving for and this really captures that feeling.
Can I simply say whazt a comfort to find somebody who genuinely kows what they are talking about online.
You actually understand how to bring an issue tto light
and make it important. A lot more people must
read this and understand this side of the story. It’s surprising you’re not more populaar because you
certainly have the gift.