“A gritty, emotionally sensitive clutch of stories.”

—Kirkus Reviews

EastOver Press is proud to publish the second edition of Keith Pilapil Lesmeister’s 2017 short story collection, We Could’ve Been Happy Here, originally published by MG Press, and now re-issued with a new story and an introduction by Midwestern Gothic co-founder Robert James Russell.

The release of this second edition marks the beginning of a new venture for EastOver Press to re-issue reprints of great books first published by other small presses. The first edition of We Could’ve Been Happy Here, set exclusively in the upper Midwest, exemplified MG Press’s mission to “[shine] a spotlight on Midwest authors by focusing on works that showcase all aspects of life—good, bad, or ugly… [and] to celebrate what makes the Midwest such a unique place.” The books published by MG Press hewed closely to this mission for a decade. They showcased to the world the urgent, diverse, and ever-important canon of Midwestern literature. But like so many small presses—run by a crew of stalwart volunteers with limited time and resources—MG Press closed its doors in 2021 after a brilliant ten-year stint. This meant We Could’ve Been Happy Here would no longer be available to the general public. Now EastOver Press is thrilled to extend the life of this book.

In We Could’ve Been Happy Here, Lesmeister plows out a distinctive vision of the contemporary Midwest: A recovering addict chases down a herd of runaway cows with a girl the same age as his estranged daughter; a middle-aged couple rediscovers their love for one another by robbing a bank; the daughter of a deployed soldier wages a bloody war on the rabbits ravaging her family’s farm. These stories peer into the lives of those at the margins—the broken, the resigned, the misunderstood.