Gloucester author JoeAnn Hart has a new book out, and it’s good news for lovers of sharply written and keenly observed short stories.

During the past decade and half, she’s built a name for herself in the literary world. Her debut novel, Addled, was published in 2007 by the venerable house of Little, Brown. It painted a painfully funny picture of the denizens of the Eden Rock Country Club, beset by a flock of Hitchockian geese. Her next effort, which also made waves, was Float (Ashland Creek Press, 2013), set in a funky seaside town gripped by the climate crisis. In 2019 she delivered Stamford ’76 (University of Iowa Press), a ripped-from-the-headlines novel based on a brutal murder in JoeAnn’s social circle.

Her newest is Highwire Act & Other Tales of Survival, published by Black Lawrence Press in September 2023. It’s a collection of funny, fierce, and fabulous short stories, framed by our current climate crisis (a theme on which JoeAnn has become a literary authority). The stories are varied: A homeless man contemplates an infant’s grave from the Westward Expansion; a young couple raise crickets for food; a woman in a caged complex is witness to the deterioration of her neighbor; a college student argues over ethical eating with her parents; and a woman dying of Covid-19 watches the birds from her hospital window.

Some of the stories are set in the real world while others foretell a strange, speculative future. The startling metaphors are firmly rooted in nature imagery, as in “worries began to bloom like algae in a stagnant pond.”

The eighteen tales are like polished golden nuggets, with sparkling prose, glossy weight, and true value. Pick up a copy of Highwire Act & Other Tales of Survival and read it. It will make you smarter and you’ll feel like you’ve spent your time wisely.