"Herd's pieces are tightly crafted, many honing in on a single scene or conversation. His sharp prose cuts cleanly in and out of the lives of his myriad protagonists."
The Foxing Review "Empty Pockets collects nineteen new and sixty-four previously published stories from one of America's masters of the form."
Largehearted Boy "Nineteen new stories by Herd join the sixty-four selected picks, ... Read moremaking for a fictional world that is uniquely his."
Lively Arts "Empty Pockets provides a fine overview to the work of a writer whose work eludes easy description, but remains ahead of its time. Whether in his blending of the traditional and the experimental, or in distilling stories down to a precisely phrased form, these stories offer plenty to savor."
Star Tribune "The seemingly simple beauty of the language sets "Handcrafted Dolls" apart. There is no flash here, just verbal magic of a special type. If you love to read, you'll be thinking, This is what words in a story ought to do."
Electric Literature "There is no one better at the short story than Dale Herd. Unmatched for candor, swiftness, scale of incident ... The immediacy you feel is of the particular moment taken and followed. Fortunately, a goodly sampling of what he's been up to over the past forty-something years is bound together in the new Empty Pockets. Dale is a writer to converse with, always good to hear."
Bird & Beckett Bookstore "Herd is still one of the great prose stylists and most economical of story tellers (some of his stories are half a page) and a master of creating characters and the lives they live, and the world they live them in, with a simple page long monologue or a page and a half of dialogue, or less."
Lally's Alley "Herd's anonymity has made discovering Empty Pockets even more special, like finding the next great band and hearing them play in a hole in the wall bar instead of a sold out arena."
Queen Mobs Teahouse "Join me in re-discovering this gritty, unsparing and fresh voice."
The Quivering Pen Show Less