{"product_id":"out-of-the-rain-isbn-9781644213865","title":"Out of the Rain","description":"\u003cb\u003eA debut novel from the award-winning journalist about the people in a San Francisco homeless shelter, and those who try to help—or prey on them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e*Shortlisted for the Mark Twain Award, 2025*\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Ever since I first read Mr. Garcia's journalism I have admired his bravery and accuracy. This work reminds me of György Konrád‘s great novella \u003ci\u003eThe Case Worker.\u003c\/i\u003e” —William T. Vollmann\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[T]here’s a writer named J. Malcolm Garcia who continually astounds me with his energy and empathy. I’ve been following him wherever he goes.\" \u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003eDave Eggers\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eOut of the Rain\u003c\/i\u003e takes us into the growing world of the homeless in the United States, particularly in San Francisco. Here we read their powerful stories, which examine not just poverty but bottom-of-the-barrel destitution, and in many cases self-destruction.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTom, who runs a social services agency, doesn’t play by a book of rules as much as try to bring some humanity to his work. Then there is Walter, a homeless man who can’t save himself from booze but is ready to help others. Throughout this novel told from various perspectives, the reader is introduced in intimate detail to the lives of social services workers trying to find open shelter beds and simultaneously navigating federal programs. Homeless men and women are battling sobriety and addiction and simply trying to find sustainable work and decent housing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBased on the author’s experience working with homeless people in San Francisco as a social services worker in the 1980s and 1990s, this novel vividly takes the reader into the heads of combat veterans, junkies, prostitutes and the unemployed. J. Malcolm Garcia left social services to pursue journalism so he could write about the people he worked with and share their stories—and humanity—with the broader public.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“There weren’t enough shelter beds, weren’t enough detoxes, weren’t enough jobs, weren’t enough anything for the people I wanted to help.” —Tom, social worker, in \u003ci\u003eOut of the Rain\u003c\/i\u003e\"This novel is his reminder to the reader as to why we need to care.\"—Ron Jacobs, \u003ci\u003eCounterpunch\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eOut of the Rain\u003c\/i\u003e is a deftly woven, deeply empathetic look at life in San Francisco’s Tenderloin, a neighborhood that has long been home to people struggling to survive on the streets, in treatment centers and ragged hotels. J. Malcolm Garcia has rendered a world we rarely see, of the intersecting issues faced by the homeless and those trying to help them. Too many of us look away, especially decades after this book when the Tenderloin gained a national reputation as a symbol of inner-city despair. But here is Garcia showing us the humanity and complexity of lives unfolding there. These are characters I will remember.\"  —Katherine Seligman, author of \u003ci\u003eAt the Edge of the Haight\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“\u003ci\u003eOut of the Rain\u003c\/i\u003e is an unflinching portrait of men and women on society’s margins. It conveys the nuances of homelessness, alcohol addiction, and ultimately recovery from the voices of both those in its throes and those who turn it around to help others. J. Malcolm Garcia delivers in this fine work a stunning feat of literary ventriloquism.” –Sidik Fofana, \u003ci\u003eStories from the Tenants Downstairs\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Ever since I first read Mr. Garcia's journalism I have admired his bravery and accuracy. This work reminds me of György Konrád‘s great novella\u003ci\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe Case Worker.\u003c\/i\u003e” —\u003c\/i\u003eWilliam T. Vollmann\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[T]here's a writer named J. Malcolm Garcia who continually astounds me with his energy and empathy. I've been following him wherever he goes.\" —Dave Eggers\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eJ. Malcolm Garcia \u003c\/b\u003eworked with homeless people in San Francisco for fourteen years before he made the jump into journalism in 1997. The tragedy of September 11th, 2001, gave him the opportunity to work in Afghanistan. Since then he has written on Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Chad, Haiti, Honduras, Egypt and Argentina among other countries. Garcia is the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Khaarijee: A Chronicle of Friendship and War in Kabul \u003c\/i\u003e(Beacon 2009); \u003ci\u003eWhat Wars Leave Behind: The Faceless and Forgotten\u003c\/i\u003e (University of Missouri Press 2014); \u003ci\u003eWithout A Country: The Untold Story of America's Deported Veterans\u003c\/i\u003e (Skyhorse Press 2017); and \u003ci\u003eRiding through Katrina with the Red Baron's Ghost: A Memoir of Friendship, Family and a Life Writing Stories \u003c\/i\u003e(Skyhorse Press 2018), as well as two previous books from Seven Stories Press, \u003ci\u003eThe Fruit of All My Grief: Lives in the Shadows of the American Dream\u003c\/i\u003e (2018) and \u003ci\u003eMost Dangerous, Most Unmerciful: Stories from Afghanistan \u003c\/i\u003e(2022). Garcia is a recipient of the Studs Terkel Prize for writing about the working classes and the Sigma Delta Chi Award for excellence in journalism. His work has been anthologized in \u003ci\u003eBest American Travel Writing\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eBest American Nonrequired Reading\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eBest American Essays\u003c\/i\u003e. He lives in San Diego.","brand":"Seven Stories Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303220924645,"sku":"NP9781644213865","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781644213865.jpg?v=1767734365","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/out-of-the-rain-isbn-9781644213865","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}