{"product_id":"fire-ants-literary-essays-paperback","title":"Fire Ants: Literary Essays - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eCason E. O'Banion\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat's your first lesson in East Texas-where words stretch like summer days and stories run deeper than the Red River itself. In \u003ci\u003eFire Ants\u003c\/i\u003e, O'Banion delivers a witty, unvarnished portrait of growing up in that forgotten corner of the map where Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana blur together-Texarkana, the town that can't quite decide which state it belongs to, or if it even wants to.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn from the ashes of an offhand remark about \"a man from nowhere,\" these essays took root and refused to die-like the stubborn \"far aints\" of their title. What began as a detour from a stalled novel became a vibrant, darkly funny, and deeply human collection about small-town oddities, family legacies, fried turkeys gone wrong, four-wheeler flips dubbed \"903ers,\" and the peculiar beauty of a place that exists halfway between myth and memory.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese aren't stories of oil barons or tumbleweeds. They're stories of dirt bikes, church picnics, and the subtle heartbreak of realizing your hometown will never make \u003ci\u003eGarden \u0026amp; Gun\u003c\/i\u003e. From chicken magnates to high school beauty queens, from ER nurses to backyard philosophers, the voices in \u003ci\u003eFire Ants\u003c\/i\u003e hum with regional humor, contradiction, and tenderness.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCASON E. O'BANION is an award-winning writer based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His fiction and nonfiction can be found in The Southern Review, The Dead Mule, The Hooghly Review, and more in print and across the internet. O'Banion teaches writing at Louisiana State University. He graduated with a bachelor's and J.D. from LSU and received his M.F.A. in Los Angeles. His essays focus on East Texas, his friends and family, chain restaurants, and protestants. O'Banion is married and has two daughters, two sons, a cat, and manages a hyper-successful fantasy baseball team. He grew up in Texarkana, Texas and is the youngest of five siblings. \u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 166\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.38 x 9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e February 18, 2026\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51889678713120,"sku":"9781622882922","price":23.76,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/UBkIVR78p89781622882922.webp?v=1781936304","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/fire-ants-literary-essays-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}