Small, Irrelevant Matters is a collection of nine short stories that take place in rural Virginia. The stories touch on moments in the lives of farmers, college students, soldiers, foundry workers and store clerks. They explore the space in-between life's bigger events: car rides and lunch breaks where the simplest interaction, a brief gesture or a thoughtless remark, can change lives unexpectedly. These quiet vignettes are snapshots of the way we treat each other, day to day, when a few quickly uttered words, which may be forgotten by one, can remain forever etched in the consciousness of another.