Ugly To Start With

Ugly To Start With (2011) is a young adult literary novel in the form of linked short stories by John Michael Cummings about the growing pains of a teenage artist in an American tourist town.

The thirteen stories in the collection touch on race, class, family and community hierarchy, sexuality, pedophilia, and abusive relationships.

All stories were originally published in literary journals, including The Iowa Review, Confrontation, and Concho River Review.