Lee Martin was born in Illinois. He earned his MFA from the University of Arkansas, and his Ph.D. From the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His stories have been widely published in journals including "The Georgia Review, Story, Double-Take, New England Review, Prairie Schooner," and "Glimmer Train Stories." He received a Nebraska Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction (1995) as well as Individual Arts Fellowships in Fiction from the Ohio Arts Council (1987) and the Tennessee Arts Commission (1989)."Together, the pieces make for a hauntingly coherent first collection, often about pitiful family scenarios in which loyalties are tested, lies offered and exposed, and in which ironies abound. . . . Bleak, midwestern landscapes well serve many of these stark and solid narratives."-"Kirkus Reviews"." . . Throughout the book, Martin's writing is sensitive and lucid . . . . The characters he writes about are utterly real . . . their concerns and joys are perfectly identifiable and voiced with passion."-"Publishers Weekly""Most of the stories in this debut collection revolve around the relationship between teen-age sons and their fathers in the Midwest of the 1950s and 60s. Although Lee Martin favors endings in which the young protagonist's world is shattered by a selfish paternal act, he manages to infuse each of these similar situations with its own particular twist . . . . What (his characters) learn . . . is just how easily a life can come apart."-"The New York Times Book Review"""The Least You Need to Know" is Lee Martin's first book, and a strange and familiar one it is. There must be a thousand stories . . . about the relations of fathers and sons: the hokiest of themes, covered since Telemachus went in search of Odysseus. . . . Martin's real, and promising, gift is to turn this cliche back into the urgent, intensely personal myth of growth it really is, and always has been."-"San Jose Mercury News""Martin's stories are solidly crafted, imaginative, and stoically compassionate."-"BookLovers""Martin succeeds with his own portraits, with his own skill for precise and intricate detail. . . . t]he most exciting moments in Martin's writing come not from the dramati