Strange Fruit is an eclectic collection of novellas. In story after story McCoy pinpoints the moment a person’s life is forever changed by love, a decision made or not made, or a simple twist of fate. His characters are flawed and fully human: In one story –All People Lives Matter–a richly detailed vignette, that rubs away at the luster of social activism, explores how life can call back those who are furthest adrift.

The female narrator on the cusp of young adulthood is Holly, a biology student at the university, and her parents are successful executives. It only seems logical, at first that she should volunteer at an organization that promises hope and social change, contributing her time to an altruistic venture. But her idealism is about to change, and is portended by others who pinpoint her future successes and failures in a nut shell: “You’re young, a rabid idealist, impressionable, stupid and going to change the world with your over-powering hope and youthful enthusiasm.The movement is better off with your naiveté, it’s a fifth wheel to a truck.You’ll jump in with both feet and boldly change the world. Pity you!”The process of a young idealist’s disillusionment with her world is a painful one, convincingly and creatively explored….”Illumined by McCoy’s unflinching insight, these lives and others draw us in with their quiet depth and surprise us with their unexpected turn of events.