In South Texas and northern Mexico, the Eagle Ford play has brought the oil and gas industry to the forefront of people's minds. Yet outsiders find it hard to see the industry sympathetically, because they so rarely see the people that inhabit it. The collection offers a vivid picture of life and people in the industry and includes short stories (some fictional, some not) about gun battles with Mexican cartels, songs without music masquerading as poems, and essays on the oil and gas business and the larger-than-life personalities in it.