HALLBOYS is a collection of six linked short stories featuring the dreams and escapades of Chip Rock and his pals (The Hallboys) growing up in the shabby orphange known as Boys Hall, in the broken-down SoCal beach town of No Palms.

As with all Michael Daswick fiction, the stories balance comedy and drama, with surprising and memorable endings. They underscore the vivid imagination of children, and their adventures which lead to friendships and the bonds that last a lifetime. These stories form the prequel to Michael's sprawling coming-of-age novel, Chip Rock and the Fat Old Fart.

Several of these stories were part of the group for which Michael won both of Columbia's prestigious literary awards, the Bennett Cerf Memorial Prize for Fiction, and the Cornell Woolrich Fellowship in Creative Writing.