Week Thirty-Five Short Story Selections

Day Two Hundred Thirty-Nine: "Otter" by Jill Peacock
Day Two Hundred Forty: "Gotta Dance" by Jackson Jodie Daviss
Day Two Hundred Forty-One: "Prance Williams Swims Again" by Matt Devens
Day Two Hundred Forty-Two: "Believer's Flood" by Richard Currey
Day Two Hundred Forty-Three:
Day Two Hundred Forty-Four:
Day Two Hundred Forty-Five:

Week Thirty-Four Short Story Selections

Day Two Hundred Thirty-Two: "The Fly" by James Pendergrast
Day Two Hundred Thirty-Three: "The Juggler" by Ursula Hegi
Day Two Hundred Thirty-Four: "A Letter to Andrei" by Benjamin Dean
Day Two Hundred Thirty-Five: "The Vote" by David Long
Day Two Hundred Thirty-Six: "How to Electrocute and Elephant" by David Edgerly Gates
Day Two Hundred Thirty-Seven: "A Voice from Somewhere Else" by Benjamin Anastas
Day Two Hundred Thirty-Eight: "Address Unknown" by Kressman Taylor

Day Two Hundred Thirty-One: "Why do They Lie to Me?" by Rohini Gupta

A link to the story online is here: http://www.everydayfiction.com/why-do-they-lie-to-me-by-rohini-gupta/

Day Two Hundred Thirty: "Llado" by Stephen Skipp

Eccentricity.

A man has a conversation and relationship with a painting. The man is clearly an artist, perhaps one who is going mad. This story was quite brilliant and at times, the reader forgets that this is not a story about two people.

The line "You’d be surprised just how comforting a frame can be, when a frame is what you need" is perfect and is a line that not only defines this piece but is a great BIG picture sort of statement about life. This was a well written and clever piece that I would recommend to curious readers.


A link to the story online can be found here:

http://www.everydayfiction.com/llado-by-stephen-skipp/

Day Two Hundred Twenty-Nine: "Helen's Hands" by Taran Burns

Wear.

A woman recounts all of the things she has used her hands for over the course of her lifetime and she regrets at the end of her life all of the things her hands never got to do. This was a short and sad look at a woman's life from childhood to senior adulthood. There is a loneliness to this story that draws the reader in from the beginning. I also think it was the perfect length. A longer story would have felt "telly" but this was just right.


A link to the story online can be found here:

http://www.everydayfiction.com/helens-hands-by-taran-burns/

Day Two Hundred Twenty-Eight: "The Cleaner" by Timothy Barrera

Fear.

A man gets involved as the "cleanup" man for the murders and accidental kilings of a punk of a mob family. How he got there, he doesn't know. There is a part of this story where the narrator contemplates his situation but overall, it's mostly about the WHAT that has happened as opposed to the WHY and I think that is what makes this story less literary somehow but yet, more effective.

I wish this piece had had more to it. Otherwise, I have no complaints of any kind. A link to the story online is here:

http://www.everydayfiction.com/the-cleaner-by-timothy-barrera/

Day Two Hundred Twenty-Seven: "Back to the Garden" by Elizabeth Beechwood

Change.

A woman recounts meeting her love, a hippie, and how that love evolves into a family with a daughter who, despite being the offspring of love and peace and freedom, takes to popularity, and politics, and the restrictions of the law that her parents had fought against. It is the story of a mother and how she comes to terms with who and what her daughter has become and how, through grandchildren, she can almost, even if in her own mind only, start again. Brilliant!

A link to the story online is here:

http://www.everydayfiction.com/back-to-the-garden-by-elizabeth-beechwood/

Day Two Hundred Twenty-Six: "Formation" by Kim Chinquee

Conformity. Pain.

A group of young adults, male and female, react to being forced into a combat situation. There is fear, compliance, and a subtlety about the way in which the youngsters respond to the commands presented that make this piece much deeper than its brevity in word count implies.

This was an interesting read. I have a feeling it would take me a few times to really grasp what is happening here even though on the surface this story seems very simple.

A link to the story online is here:

http://flashfiction.net/2012/07/flash-reprint-kim-chinquee.php

Week Thirty-Three Short Story Selections

Day Two Hundred Twenty-Five: "Corruptionists" by Ethel Rohan
Day Two Hundred Twenty-Six: "Formation" by Kim Chinquee
Day Two Hundred Twenty-Seven: "Back to the Garden" by Elizabeth Beechwood
Day Two Hundred Twenty-Eight: "The Cleaner" by Timothy Barrera
Day Two Hundred Twenty-Nine: "Helen's Hands" by Taran Burns
Day Two Hundred Thirty: "Llado" by Stephen Skipp
Day Two Hundred Thirty-One: "Why do They Lie to Me?" by Rohini Gupta

Day Two Hundred Twenty-Five: "Corruptionists" by Ethel Rohan

Prayer.

Daughters pray for their mother's healing and realize only too late that the prayer was misguided. Their mother is in pain, is a burden on others and herself. There is nothing to do but acknowledge the mistake. The rest is reality. It's brutal but it is what they have. A brilliant story if you ask me. Nice job!

A link to the story online can be found here:

www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCIQFjAA&url=http://flashfiction.net/2012/06/flash-reprint-corruptionists.php&ei=-TE8UPe7CobU9QSv2YCoCQ&usg=AFQjCNF_ScQbzsdHZ1nKYkZBQ6tI_gBnmg&sig2=DoFtnPQLwdYlMlebIkHoKg

Day Two Hundred Twenty-Four: "Moving House" by Pawel Huelle

Day Two Hundred Twenty-Three: "The Greatest Thing in the World" by Norman Mailer

Day Two Hundred Twenty-Two: "New York is a Girl" by Robert Sand

Day Two Hundred Twenty-One: "A Death in the Woods" by William Gay

Curiosity.

A man and his wife get involved in the investigation of a man found dead in the woods by their house. Was it murder? Was it suicide? What did his life mean if it meant anything? Why? The overarching question was "why"?

I liked this story in that it moved quickly but at times it was hard to follow since it lacked many dialogue tags. Several times I had to go back and make sure I knew who was talking and that for me is just too distracting, particularly in a short story like this where I don't have hundreds of pages of a certain voice to develop my own recognition upon reading. I do admire what the writer was trying to do with this but in the end, it made me not want to keep reading and I lost interest about halfway through it.

This makes me sad because I had high hopes for this writer. Maybe a different short story would yield different results for me. I'll try again to see if I can't be persuaded...but I won't be trying right now.

Day Two Hundred Twenty: "Every Tongue Shall Confess" by ZZ Packer

Secrets.

Drama unfolds in a southern church where women are obviously looked down upon and objectified and where secrets are kept about them and between them in order to protect a few of the elders of the church.

This short story was a bit long for my taste, particularly when I didn't feel that the length did anything to add to the story necessarily. However, the use of voice was wonderful here even if the story itself lost my interest. I'd give this author another chance just for that.

Day Two Hundred Nineteen: "Jellyfish" by Danielle Evans

Waiting.

A girl waits for her father in a cafe and he is running late, late as usual, and while she waits she recalls various moments from her last week or so of her life. There is heartbreak, disappointment, happiness, all full of the reality that she knows her father still can't face, a reality he is always running late to get to.

The language used in this story was refreshing and the pace was steady, pulling the reader in. I can see why Ms. Evans is getting so much attention as a young African American writer. A fresh perspective never gets old.

Nice job!

Day Two Hundred Eighteen: "You Can't Kill the Rooster" by David Sedaris

Chemistry.

A man recalls his brother's relationship with their father, a relationship that should have been strained at best because of the conservative nature of the father in comparison to the gregariousness of the brother, the one who refers to himself as "the rooster."

The depiction of this loving and strange family dynamic is full of vivid details and is easily readable, bordering addictive. Anyone who hasn't read Sedaris could start with this story and not look back, wouldn't be able to.

Well done!

Week Thirty-Two Short Story Selections

Day Two Hundred Eighteen: "You Can't Kill the Rooster" by David Sedaris
Day Two Hundred Nineteen: "Jellyfish" by Danielle Evans
Day Two Hundred Twenty: "Every Tongue Shall Confess" by ZZ Packer
Day Two Hundred Twenty-One: "A Death in the Woods" by William Gay
Day Two Hundred Twenty-Two: "New York is a Girl" by Robert Sand
Day Two Hundred Twenty-Three: "The Greatest Thing in the World" by Norman Mailer
Day Two Hundred Twenty-Four: "Moving House" by Pawel Huelle

Day Two Hundred Seventeen: "Letter from the Understudy" by Kathryn Simmonds

Focus. Disturbed.

An understudy writes a letter anonymously about how he gradually poisoned the actor he was shadowing in order to get his shot at the spotlight. It works at first but just when the understudy is about to get his chance to really shine, the night when critics will be there to see him, the actor himself decides to perform despite a fever. This is when the story turns dark and the understudy resorts to a more obvious form of violence, taking a bat to the actor in order to keep him from performing.

Of course, the irony is that the actions of the understudy result in him going into hiding and thus stripping him of the very opportunity he had been seeking. This was quite a sinister and well written story and unlike any I've read so far.

Nice job!


A link to the story online is here:

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/LettUnde.shtml

Day Two Hundred Sixteen: "Red from Green" by Maile Meloy

Price.

A young girl goes on weekend camping and fishing trips with her father and uncle while they prep witnesses for a big legal claim. The star witness is clearly taken with the teenage daughter of his attorney and as the story progresses, the reader gets a sense of how quickly one's innocence is shattered and how terrifying and tantalizing the prospect of losing that innocence can be for a girl at a certain age.

The conclusion to this very nicely written story is contemplative and yet realistic. There is no idealism to this. It is strangely a black and white sort of tale in its own way. The point: Some things you don't mess with. Some things really are too good to touch.

I loved this story. I won't be forgetting this one.

Day Two Hundred Fifteen: "Blind" by Ann Fischer

Reversal.

A woman marries a man that she loves even though not really in love with him. He makes sense, is a good match. He inspires her. However, shortly after their marriage, he seems to fall apart. He quits his job, flounders from one endeavor to another and when he finally seems to find his niche, operating an interior design business, he closes shop and retires to bed.

The wife works more. He sleeps more. The marriage is on the rocks when the story ends but the reader gets the sense that things will turn around eventually...or perhaps, the reader is as blind as the narrator to the truth of the matter. There may be no turning back.

A link to the story online is here:

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/Blin.shtml

Day Two Hundred Fourteen: "Big Alabama and the Chained Refrigerator" by James Valvis

Survival.

A girl whose parents are worried she is gaining too much weight chain their refrigerator shut and then cut out their daughter's lunch. But...she doesn't lose weight. It doesn't make sense. The family is perplexed, convinced she must be stealing lunches from other kids at school. But one night at dinner, her brother figures it out. The dog food is being devoured at an alarming weight. His sister's cry for help a simple frown across the table. How sad a story...such desperation that cannot be discussed and as equally cannot be explained.

A link to the story online can be found here:

http://www.upthestaircase.org/issue18jamesvalvis.htm

Day Two Hundred Thirteen: "You Are Here" by Chris Wiewiora

A man recounts riding motorcycles with Brian and how upon learning about his friend's death, he considers driving his cycle into a wall. This was a really short piece of flash fiction but it worked. There is just enough emotion in this to make it powerful and sad. Nice job as a continuation of this story about "Brian" and what he meant to various different people.

A link to the story online is here:

http://burrowpress.com/you-are-here-by-chris-wiewiora/

Day Two Hundred Twelve: "Tunneling" by Gene Albamonte

The narrator thinks about Brian, a friend who has died and how they spent time together throwing tennis balls against the wall and Brian's theory about the tennis ball "tunneling" through space, through matter. This was a very interesting start to this 15 part serial story and it definitely made me want to read more. It personalized Brian in a way that I can tell he'll be central to some of the stories to come as well. Nice job!

A link to the story online can be found here:

http://burrowpressreview.com/tunneling-by-gene-albamonte/

Day Two Hundred Eleven: "Last Night" by James Salter

Assistance.

A man and his wife make a pact to help the wife commit suicide by morphine injection. On her last night, the man and his wife go to a fancy restaurant, buy an expensive wine, all to make sure her last evening is a memorable one, a fitting way to end her life. But, the catch is that they don't want to do it alone so they take a young girl that the woman had met in a gardening class. The young woman was to be the witness, the person to keep the husband from being alone once the assisted suicide was complete.

This was the setup.

But...something goes wrong. The man gives his wife the injection and she drifts away. He goes back downstairs to the young girl and he basically forces her to have sex with him but in the end, she seems to consent and they wake up the next morning in a sort of agreement about their relationship. They are content, having coffee when the wife stumbles down the staircase, the assisted suicide having apparently failed.

This was the downfall. The man loses the girl at this point, a girl who realizes that her connection to this man is now shattered. It's sick and twisted in a way but when the reader realizes that this man will have to go through this again and alone to boot, it's actually rather sad.

From a writing standpoint, this story was well written and there was a flow about it that made it seem much shorter upon reading than it actually was. Nice job by an author that I'll read more of.

A link to the story online is here:

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2002/11/18/021118fi_fiction?currentPage=2

Week Thirty-One Short Story Selections

Day Two Hundred Eleven: "Tunneling" by Gene Albamonte
Day Two Hundred Twelve: "We Are Here" by Wiewiora
Day Two Hundred Thirteen: "Last Night" by James Salter
Day Two Hundred Fourteen: "Big Alabama and the Chained Refrigerator" by James Valvis
Day Two Hundred Fifteen: "Blind" by Ann Fischer
Day Two Hundred Sixteen: "Red from Green" by Maile Meloy
Day Two Hundred Seventeen: "Letter from the Understudy" by Kathryn Simmonds

Day Two Hundred-Ten: "Death by Scrabble" by Charlie Fish

Gamesmanship.

Life as a game. A man and his wife play Scrabble and he realizes as the game progresses that the words being played are somehow determining what is happening in his life during the actual game itself. He hates his wife. Wants her dead. But, life is a game, one that you may not always win...and where others may have tricks up their sleeves that you can't be prepared for.

The voice in this story was fantastic. Very clever piece. I'd read more by this author for sure.

A link to the story online can be found here:

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/DeatScra.shtml

Day Two Hundred-Nine: "The Card" by James Ross

Harshness.

A young boy thinks back to getting a card from his absent father and how the card, for a 10 year old boy, was sorely lacking in that it warned the boy to watch his back because no one else will. This very short piece interestingly brings that idea to play as the reader sees what the narrator has gotten involved in and how that simple statement from a missing father to his son has shaped the adult life, the decisions he makes both consciously and subconsciously.

This was a well written story with beautiful lines that sum of the story such as:

"I have this theory that, to use the world is a flat thing we stand on, but to birds, it is a cliff they cling to, a huge ball and they cling to the side and then fall off and fly and glide."

Nice job by an author unknown to me. A link to the story online can be found here:

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/Card759.shtml

Day Two Hundred-Eight: "A Box to Hide In" by James Thurber

Escape.

WOW!!! This story was amazing. A man searches for a box to hide in. He approaches grocers, his cleaning lady, random people in stores but never finds a way out, a way to be a part of life without having be engaged with it.

He wants to hide away in a box but to be in a box that is still in a room, a part of things. He could hear the world around him, laugh at the things he hears but...all the while, not have to interact with it. He can simply "observe"...he can see and not be seen or hear and not be heard.

But the story ends and he is sad. He can't find a box big enough. There's too much of him. There's too much of everything!

WHAT A STORY! I absolutely loved the voice of the first person narrator of this one. I will be talking about this one for a while!

A link to the story online is here:

http://www.loa.org/images/pdf/Thurber_Box_Hide.pdf

Day Two Hundred-Seven:"Shiftless Little Loafers" by Susan Orlean

Ridiculousness.

A woman ponders why infants do not have jobs and the result is a story that is both strange and on the verge of silliness yet, oddly profound. Work is what we make of it. Kids understand this. That is why they avoid it and why we envy what may otherwise seem like laziness and snobbery among babies being pushed around in strollers with everyone catering to their needs.

That is what we, as adults want. It is not really all that hard to imagine but we simply don't want to acknowledge it. After all, a grown up without a job is a slacker, immature, unable to contribute.

This story, while humorous and almost absurd, points out in a subtle way that we take ourselves and our careers way too seriously. We should all spend more time just "relaxing"...taking it all in when we can at the expense of the rest of them.

Day Two Hundred-Six: "The Question of a Feather" by Robert Frost

Temptation.

An expert on hens answers a letter written to him by a woman who breeds Minorca hens and pays her a visit. Little does he know that he will be confronted with an ethical dilemma. A hen bred to show has a feather on her leg and the breeder at the poultry farm asks for his advice.

He declines to answer but implies that the hen should be left as is, that while the temptation is there to make it "right"...and the fault is "so remediable" he still nudges the woman toward leaving the feather in place even when plucking it would change everything.

I thought this was a brilliant story and I could reread it over and over again. I'm very impressed by hit particularly since I didn't know that Frost wrote short stories. This alone has made my reading project worth it. Nice job.

Day Two Hundred-Five: "Was it in His Hand?" by Elizabeth Bishop

Fortune.

Two women driving across the country in wintertime stop at an old farmhouse that has been converted into a palmreader's shop. For fun, they go in for a reading and what they find is both interesting and disturbing to them. They don't find the truth. They don't find any magic. They find a seemingly crazy black woman that appears to be holding a young white boy hostage.

It's as if this kid is the "muse" for the palmreader. The two women find the situation harmless but even so, as they leave the house after a strange afternoon with the woman and young boy, they step back into the harsh cold that the farmhouse was at least a refuse from.

There was something beautiful and eerie about this story. I can't quite put my finger on it just yet. Perhaps this is a blogpost I will revisit upon further contemplation. Nice work!

Day Two Hundred-Four: "The Troubles" by Sheldon Compton

A link to the story online is here:

http://www.friedchickenandcoffee.com/2012/07/13/the-troubles-fiction-by-sheldon-compton/

Week Thirty Short Story Selections

Day Two Hundred-Four: "The Troubles" by Sheldon Compton
Day Two Hundred-Five: "Was it in His Hand?" by Elizabeth Bishop
Day Two Hundred-Six: "The Question of a Feather" by Robert Frost
Day Two Hundred-Seven:"Shiftless Little Loafers" by Susan Orlean
Day Two Hundred-Eight: "A Box to Hide In" by James Thurber
Day Two Hundred-Nine: "The Card" by James Ross
Day Two Hundred-Ten: "Death by Scrabble" by Charlie Fish

Day Two Hundred-Three:"The Sniper" by Liam O'Flaherty

Identity.

A sniper searches out his target and finds great joy in the hunt and ultimate kill...only to realize by story's end that the person he has killed is his own brother.

The point at which the sniper realizes this, after risking his own safety in order to discover the identity of the dead person, is both startling and appropriate. Sometimes looks can be deceiving and you never know what is waiting for you if you take that shot.

A link to the story online can be found here:

http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/sniper.html

Day Two Hundred-Two: "The Use of Force" by William Carlos Williams

Approach.

A doctor visits the family of a young girl that is sick but that won't let her parents look into her mouth. The doctor is almost certain what the problem is and with determination and some amount of force, he manages to get the girl's mouth open whereupon he discovers that she in fact has the illness he predicted.

The girl lives. The family is happy. The doctor was right. Moral of this simple but deep story: Sometimes others DO know better. Sometimes you have to FORCE that something better.

Day Two Hundred-One: "Cloud" by Andrew Sullivan

Effort.

A young boy and his friend battle the starlings that have taken over their town. "Shit" is everywhere and it's keeping people in their homes. Only these two kids are willing to fight to get rid of the "shit" while everyone else either runs away or makes plans to.

This was a literal story about friendship and overcoming the serious challenges presented by a swarm of birds that have terrorized a community and the challenge inserted into this friendship by one boy's mom's decision to abandon the problem rather than facing it. Metaphorically of course, this story says much more.

The longer you take to deal with the shit that is out there, it will only get deeper and stinkier and harder to get rid of. Those who try to deal with it are going to get nasty and they will be few and far between. Still...the idea is that one can only take so much "shit."

Day Two Hundred: "Oasis" by Miles Klee

Irony.

Written as a sort of news story, scientists discover that people enjoy spending time alone on their toilets. This was a very short short story and yet it was ironic and funny. I quite liked it.

The story can be found online here:

http://www.untowardmag.com/2012/07/oasis/

Day One Hundred Ninety-Nine: "I'm Working on my Charm" by Dorothy Allison

Example.

A young Southern girl watches her mom and learns by example to waitress. The tips that are made, the ploys undertaken to get them, the judgments that are made about patrons and the bets the waitresses make regarding who will tip the most or the least make this story worth the read. There is a real distinction the mother in the story (and inherently the author herself) is making about Yankees versus Southerners.

It's a story about the type of hospitality and charm that both make and break young women in the South. This was a very smart and engaging read. Nice job by a fantastic southern female voice.

Day One Hundred Ninety-Eight: "Respect" by Mary Gaitskill

Shame.

A woman has a one night stand with a man 13 years her younger. When the story opens she is almost bashful at the thought of their night together but upon checking her mail and discovering he had left her a handwritten note, she is almost giddy, an emotion for which she quickly hates herself. He's younger and she doesn't understand what he would see in her. She is heavier, older, uninteresting and yet, he has left his number--asked her to call. Then, before she has a chance to contact him, he calls and asks her to dinner. It's a date, something official. Once again, she is on guard but she accepts the invitation regardless.

As the reader watches this woman dress for her date, watch her squirm nervously through the dinner, and ultimately get disappointed by this young man in the way she feared but had managed to ignore for a brief period of time...the reader is struck by the irony that is inherent in the situation at hand. He "respects" this woman after a night of not respecting her. It can't be true. That is the impression the reader is left with.

Is it punishment? Is it prophetic? Perhaps both. As the woman retreats into her apartment alone at the story's conclusion, her parting comment to her pet is telling. "It's nothing."

WOW!!!!!!! What a story that was very well written. I won't be forgetting this one. It's a little close to the vest for that.

Day One Hundred Ninety-Seven: "Ghastly Dislocation" by James Lewelling

Mindgames.

A psychiatrist is disturbed by a patient's fixation on him, his ability to keep tabs on his comings and goings, almost to the point of his own mental disintegration. This was a fascinating and psychological read and if it not for the SEVERE overuse of parenthetical phrases in this piece, I'd say this story was close to perfect.

There is an element to it that is very real and yet surreal at the same time. When the story concludes and the patient has abandoned his doctor rather than the other way around, there is a sense of sadness and loss that only makes sense in context of this one relationship.

I really don't know what to make of it at this point because those parenthetical phrases really stopped me from the full enjoyment I might have otherwise had with this story. Even so, I'd recommend for someone to check this out. This type of story is on the verge of Poe. I don't take that lightly.

A link to the story online is here:

http://www.untowardmag.com/2012/06/ghastly-dislocation/

Week Twenty-Nine Short Story Selections

Day One Hundred Ninety-Seven: "Ghastly Dislocation" by James Lewelling
Day One Hundred Ninety-Eight: "Respect" by Mary Gaitskill
Day One Hundred Ninety-Nine: "I'm Working on my Charm" by Dorothy Allison
Day Two Hundred: "Oasis" by Miles Klee
Day Two Hundred-One: "Cloud" by Andrew Sullivan
Day Two Hundred-Two: "The Use of Force" by William Carlos Williams
Day Two Hundred-Three:"The Sniper" by Liam O'Flaherty

Day One Hundred Ninety-Six: "The Boy with No Face" by Michael Depp

Deals.

If it's too good to be true, it probably is. That saying is perfect for this story in which family after family moves into this cheap house on an island which is apparently haunted by the image of a boy with no face.

There is an element of supernatural about this story that I actually enjoyed. While perhaps a tad gory, this story felt more like Poe than it did like a true horror story. Overall, I thought it was well written and worth my time. I actually wanted to read more but this was a short short and so it ended too soon for me. That is a good sign about the writing.


A link to the story online is here:

http://www.untowardmag.com/2012/07/the-boy-with-no-face/

Day One Hundred Ninety-Two: "Li Ling" by Atsushi Nakajima

A link to the story online is here:

http://www.apublicspace.org/back_issues/issue_8/li_ling.html

Day One Hundred Ninety-Four: "Boyfriend" by Junot Diaz

Day One Hundred Ninety-Three: "A Disturbance in the Herd Affects the Flock" by Matthew Jakubowski

Enduring.

Love in any form. This story was beyond bizarre. A man, in order to hunt, divides into may smaller men. His wife changes into fire to warm their home and cook their foods. The symbolism in this piece was obvious and yet it didn't detract from the story in my opinion. If anything, the characters seemed real. Their situation, the struggle to survive in a world where they are different, is very real and easy for readers to relate to.

I'm not sure still how I "feel" about this approach to a common theme in literature but, I won't soon forget this one. A link to the story online is here:

http://necessaryfiction.com/stories/MatthewJakubowskiADisturbanceintheHerdAffectstheFlock

Day One Hundred Ninety-One: "I Bought Twelve Pair of Socks at a Swap Meet in Tuscon" by Michael Frissore

Absurd.

This story was NOT what I expected and I'm sad to say, ultimately, it didn't work for me. It may be a taste thing but this was just too over the top for me. Two guys are sort of minor outlaws and are on the run out on the road when one guy gets mauled by coyotes and the friend simply regroups in a Jack-in-the-Box restaurant and then approaches a swap meet and talks to a girl where she is selling WWII memorabilia when he spots a T-rex charging at him.

Now, maybe this is a story trenched in some sort of symbolism that I'm not seeing. Or, maybe this narrator is high on drugs when telling the story. Regardless of the explanation if there even is one, I just couldn't get into it and that is pretty bad considering how short the piece was.

For anyone who wants to read it and challenge my review, please do so. The link to the story online is here:

http://www.untowardmag.com/2012/07/i-bought-twelve-pairs-of-socks-at-a-swap-meet-in-tucson/

Day One Hundred Ninety: "Another Life" by Paul La Farge

Perspective.

A frustrated writer sits at a bar after abandoning a family party where his wife, the pediatrician, is contentedly spending her time without him. The reader gets to watch this man interact with a young attractive bartender and it, for me, provided a realistic look at a very specific kind of loneliness that can exist in an "unequal" marriage, at least one that is perceived to be unequal by one or both of the parties to it.

The girl though has her own story. By story's end, after the bartender and the despaired man have hasty sex in a bathroom stall, the reader sees into the mind of this young girl and the story comes full circle. Loneliness has many faces. It's all a matter of perspective after all.

This was a really well written story too...I enjoyed it and would read more by this author. A link to the online story is here:

http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2012/07/02/120702fi_fiction_lafarge?currentPage=all

Week Twenty-Eight Short Story Selections

Day One Hundred Ninety: "Another Life" by Paul La Farge
Day One Hundred Ninety-One: "I Bought Twelve Pair of Socks at a Swap Meet in Tuscon" by Michael Frissore
Day One Hundred Ninety-Two: "Li Ling" by Atsushi Nakajima
Day One Hundred Ninety-Three: "A Disturbance in the Herd Affects the Flock" by Matthew Jakubowski
Day One Hundred Ninety-Four: "Boyfriend" by Junot Diaz
Day One Hundred Ninety-Five: "An Ex-Mas Feast" by Uwem Akpan
Day One Hundred Ninety-Six: "The Boy with No Face" by Michael Depp

Day One Hundred Eighty-Four: "The Non-Opening Window" by Simon Barker

Recoil.

A man shows up for a date with a woman he met through a match-making site only to realize that she thinks her dead husband has returned to her in the form of their family dog, "Monty". The man is warned by the woman's daughter about this strange fixation that her mother has and the reader even sees the mom doting on this dog in an unusual way. Yet, by story's end when the man bails out of the window of one of the bedrooms, whether his concern is legitimate or rather a fear placed there intentionally by the woman's daughter.

I thought this was a very clever story that could warrant another reading for sure. It was heavy in dialogue and it kept me intrigued from start to finish. Well done.

A link to the story online is here:

http://www.everydayfiction.com/the-non-opening-window-by-simon-barker/

Day One Hundred Eighty-Five: "Souls at Zero" by E.W. Boget

Brotherhood.

A man recounts his love for his brother, the nights they spent listening to music together, living life...and then how that tie was broken when the man walks in on his brother in bed with his girlfriend. The man questions himself, why he didn't see it coming and he also questions his ultimate decision to forgive his brother.

A punch to the face. His brother taking it like a man. That was all it took. Somehow, I don't think life is that easy even though this story certainly makes it seem that way.

This was a short short but it was very well written. I'd be interested in reading more by this writer.

A link to the story online is here:

http://www.everydayfiction.com/souls-at-zero-by-e-w-boget/

Day One Hundred Eighty-Three: "My Aunt Gold Teeth" by V.S. Naipaul

Conviction.

A LARGE Hindu woman so proud of her husband that she has her teeth pulled and replaced with gold ones, dabbles with Christianity to the point that she is convinced her husband has fallen ill because of her betrayal. She had been praying to conceive a child and had resorted to rosaries, prayers to Jesus, the kinds of things that her husband would shun.

She finally confesses to her husband and soon after he dies. Nothing changes for her but she sticks to Christianity and in her death, she is none the better. She is barren and the prayers all seem to, by the author, be something that can simply be chalked up to superstition.

This was an interesting read and makes me curious to read more by this well known author.

Week Twenty-Seven Short Story Selections

Day One Hundred Eighty-Three: "My Aunt Gold Teeth" by V.S. Naipaul
Day One Hundred Eighty-Four: "The Non-Opening Window" by Simon Barker
Day One Hundred Eighty-Five: "Souls at Zero" by E.W. Boget
Day One Hundred Eighty-Six: "Raw Water" by Wells Tower
Day One Hundred Eighty-Seven: "Going for a Beer" by Robert Coover
Day One Hundred Eighty-Eight:
Day One Hundred Eighty-Nine:

Day One Hundred Eighty-One: "Wake in the Night" by Laura Krughoff

A link to the story online is here:

http://necessaryfiction.com/writerinres/WakeintheNight

Day One Hundred Eighty: "Kentucky Ham" by William Burroughs, Jr.

Observation.

A boy watches his father and his father's friends engage in the decadence of Tangier. This story is alive with images of a world most readers in the 1960's couldn't have imagined and as a Beat writer, Burroughs' use of voice was spot on and it really helped showcase what this period of time was like for American artists and writers.

Drugs. Confusion. Friendship...primary.

Family...secondary.

(this was actually an excerpt from the novel by the same title but it works as a stand alone story and it was read that way)

Day One Hundred Seventy-Nine: "Jacklight" by Jeff Ewing

Persistence.

A man shoots a buck and hunts it down late into the night when the buck refuses to simply stop and accept the death. The reader gets a glimpse into the mind of the hunter, a unique look at the vulnerability present in many men who take the lives of animals such as this. I thought the story was well written and it really made me think about the idea of hunting, the thrill of it, in a completely different way.

The story is available online here:

http://necessaryfiction.com/stories/JeffEwingJacklight

Day One Hundred Seventy-Eight: "What the Moon Brings" by H.P. Lovecraft

Rot.

In this story a man fears what the moon will bring or rather, what the moon's light will shine upon and unearth to the eye. Staring at the sea, the narrator is afraid of what lurks beneath the water among the seaweed and the grime. There is a tension in this story that both detracted from the meaning for me but at the same time, kept me reading swiftly toward the story's end.

The writing itself was gorgeous and that too threw me for a loop when contrasted with the general topic of the story. This was an interesting read indeed.


A link to the story online can be found here:

http://www.flashfictiononline.com/fpublic0001-h-p-lovecraft-what-the-moon-brings.html

Day One Hundred Seventy-Seven: "A Pretty Quarrel" by Lord Dunsany

Epic.

A Battle between dwarves and demi-gods. Thank goodness this story was a short one. It's a shame that an Anglo-Irish writer like this doesn't give me more to talk about...I had such high hopes after reading his wikipedia bio as follows:


Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany (24 July 1878–25 October 1957), was an Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist, notable for his work in fantasy published under the name Lord Dunsany. More than eighty books of his work were published, and his oeuvre includes hundreds of short stories, as well as successful plays, novels and essays. Born to one of the oldest titles in the Irish peerage, he lived much of his life at perhaps Ireland’s longest-inhabited home, Dunsany Castle near Tara, received an honourary doctorate from Trinity College, and died in Dublin.


For what it's worth, a link to the story online can be found here:

http://www.flashfictiononline.com/fpublic0058-pretty-quarrel-lord-dunsany.html

Day One Hundred Seventy-Six: "Skin Tailoring" by Marina Harris

Week Twenty-Six Short Story Selections

Day One Hundred Seventy-Six: "Skin Tailoring" by Marina Harris
Day One Hundred Seventy-Seven: "A Pretty Quarrel" by Lord Dunsany
Day One Hundred Seventy-Eight: "What the Moon Brings" by H.P. Lovecraft
Day One Hundred Seventy-Nine: "Jacklight" by Jeff Ewing
Day One Hundred Eighty: "Kentucky Ham" by William Burroughs, Jr.
Day One Hundred Eighty-One: "Wake in the Night" by Laura Krughoff
Day One Hundred Eighty-Two:

Day One Hundred Seventy-Five: "Debris" by Courtney Elizabeth Mauk

Thoughtfulness.

A floundering artist prepares to meet his daughter after not seeing her for many years. He dumpster dives and finds items with which to make a doll, a gift, something for her to show his love, to show how his creativity has worked to his advantage when in all truth, he is failing, and couldn't have bought a toy for his child if he'd wanted to.

Ultimately, this story is heartbreaking and unique and will not soon leave my memory for the vividness of the images, the language used, the sheer force of the ending where the man doesn't see his daughter after all.

Brilliant. A gem of a read.

Day One Hundred Seventy-Four: "Pig" by Yann Martel

Science. Boundaries.

A bovine digestive system is transplanted into a human and soon, its success story spreads and society adapts and more and more people began to have the procedure. But, the unforeseen consequences of the success of such a transplant is what this story is really about.

Cause and Effect. Slippery Slope. Science sometimes only gets it half right when it doesn't look far enough ahead into the future. This story makes this point perfectly and with wit and intelligence. Nice job!

Day One Hundred Seventy-Three: "My Father Sits in the Dark" by Jerome Weidman

Consistency.

A man recounts seeing his father sitting in the dark in his home, always sitting and smoking and staring straight ahead, quiet and without much to say to his son even when his son tries to engage him in conversations. When this story occurs, the son has grown angry with his father over this.

But still, despite the frustration of this nightly ritual, there is something comforting in this story. There is a steadiness about the relationship, an idea that there is known about these two all there is to know, or rather perhaps, all that they want to know. So, but not saying much, much is being conveyed and that makes this piece subtle and beautiful.

This story warrants a re-read...or five...for sure.

Day One Hundred Seventy-Two: "The Staircase" by Connie Mae Fowler

Pride.

A young black woman cleans house and spends most of her time and effort polishing a wooden staircase. Interestingly, while a huge source of pride for her, the act of cleaning offers this young woman a way to engage with those around her in a way they are unaware. She hears their stories, their secrets, and she carries with her their fear and their hate and their lies but she wipes it all away. She is there to do that as much as to actually dust the wood itself.

This was a lovely story set in the South with language and dialogue to match. I thought it was a very authentic read.

Day One Hundred Seventy-One: "Mirrors to the Soul" by Elizabeth Judd

Blindness. Denial.

A young woman dates a painter and is enamored by the way he paints, the way he views her and how those views show up on the canvas. She is so proud of her relationship with him as if it is a way to tell everybody who ever dumped her to "piss off" but, by the story's end, with a clever twist, the reader sees that she has turned a blind eye to what this man is about. The paintings she loves are hers but not about her.

Told in the first person, this story was really hard to read because one almost gets the sense that this girl is really overselling herself and is that convinced of her own allure. I felt myself waiting for the big reveal. Any girl who is that sure about herself is a fool. This story proved this point in a very interesting and new way.

Day One Hundred Seventy: "Laurie Dressing" by Harold Brodkey

Day One Hundred Sixty-Nine: "Fathering" by Bharati Mukherjee

Week Twenty-Five Short Story Selections

Day One Hundred Sixty-Nine: "Fathering" by Bharati Mukherjee
Day One Hundred Seventy: "Laurie Dressing" by Harold Brodkey
Day One Hundred Seventy-One: "Mirrors to the Soul" by Elizabeth Judd
Day One Hundred Seventy-Two: "The Staircase" by Connie Mae Fowler
Day One Hundred Seventy-Three: "My Father Sits in the Dark" by Jerome Weidman
Day One Hundred Seventy-Four: "Pig" by Yann Martel
Day One Hundred Seventy-Five: "Debris" by Courtney Elizabeth Mauk

Day One Hundred Sixty-Eight: "Rat Beach" by William Styron

A link to the story online is below:

http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2009/07/20/090720fi_fiction_styron

Day One Hundred Sixty-Seven: "Big Inches" by Ralph Robert Moore

Intrusion.

A man is stopped in his vehicle and subjected to a search. Then he is taken to a sort of jail it seems where a search of his person ensues. Then, the man is searched piece by teach, has his hair shaved off, his teeth pulled, etc until when the story ends, his heart is all that is left and even then, nothing can be found in it.

Talk about a strange story that I couldn't stop reading. I didn't want to finish it but I couldn't help myself, sensing that on a metaphorical level, there was meaning to this disgusting madness. I was left with a sense of "ewwwww" and to that end, the story was successful in that it was memorable for sure.

EWWW!!!

A link to the story online is below:

http://www.ralphrobertmoore.com/biginches.pdf

Day One Hundred Sixty-Six: "Mornings, with Teenage Genius" by Jakob Drud

Tinkering.

A father is confused by his son, his son's talk of charged particles, fusion, things from his job. By the story's end though, the dad doesn't want his son to change anything. He is comfortable with their relationship even if he doesn't understand all there is to know about his son. They talk. There is that. For the father, that is enough.

Again, this story was a bit sparse for me and it made it difficult to follow despite the shortness of the piece.


A link to this story can be found online here:

http://www.everydayfiction.com/mornings-with-teenage-genius-by-jakob-drud/

Day One Hundred Sixty-Five: "Moe Simon's Victory" by Marisa Samuels

Odds.

A man bets on a Jewish horse and wins. How the money will be spent is up for debate but the astonishment over the win is not. That's this story in a nutshell. The details were rich and interesting but I thought it needed more of an "arc" to feel complete. I would have liked more development but still, the read was enjoyable.

A link to the story online is below:

http://www.everydayfiction.com/moe-simons-victory-by-marisa-samuels/

Day One Hundred Sixty-Four: "All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury

The Unknown.

A group of children living underground haven't seen the sun in years when they are told by scientists that on the next day, the rain will stop and the sun will be out for two hours. One of the children among them remembers the sun and its warmth and colors from her time on earth before being forced underground. None of the others believe her. To punish her for "lying" to them and teasing them with a knowledge they lacked, the children lock the young girl into a closet when it is time to go outside and bask in the rare sunshine.

When the story ends, the children return and are mortified at what they have just deprived this girl of. No more sunshine for seven years is the prediction. Their cruelty was only the tip of the iceberg. The young girls' hurtful silence in the face of their cruelty will be the lesson gleaned from it all and scientists cannot predict that.

A link to the story online is below:


http://staff.esuhsd.org/danielle/English%20Department%20LVillage/RT/Short%20Stories/All%20Summer%20in%20a%20Day.pdf

Day One Hundred Sixty-Three: "The Thief Who Stole the Melody" by Naguib Mahfouz

Arrangements.

This was a part of a larger work and was the story of a man's rise to some semblance of power in his own circle of "riffraff" as the title of the larger work indicates--The Harafish.

Overall, I was a little lost while reading this and I feel certain it was the translation from Egyptian. Even so, I enjoyed seeing how the underbelly of this Egyptian society worked and how it shaped the characters Mahfouz chose to write about, characters I felt he both knew well and admired in his own way.

Perhaps this is an example of where I should start at the beginning of this longer work and read from there instead of starting where I did. It might have made this story more appealing throughout if I had.

Day One Hundred Sixty-Two: "The Bully" by Roger Dean Kiser

Karma-esque.

A man in a diner winds up in a discussion with a former classmate, a classmate who was a bully to him when they were in middle school. As it turns out, the bully is now in a wheelchair and has trouble maneuvering around the restaurant, ultimately requiring the help of his classmate, the narrator.

This could have read like a story about karma but instead it exuded forgiveness and compassion. I like to think I'd behave as this narrator did but I'm not so sure. If anything, this story got me thinking and counting my blessings.

A link to the story online is here:

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/Bull.shtml

Week Twenty-Four Short Story Selections

Day One Hundred Sixty-Two: "The Bully" by Roger Dean Kiser
Day One Hundred Sixty-Three: "The Thief Who Stole the Melody" by Naguib Mahfouz
Day One Hundred Sixty-Four: "All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury
Day One Hundred Sixty-Five: "Moe Simon's Victory" by Marisa Samuels
Day One Hundred Sixty-Six: "Mornings, with Teenage Genius" by Jakob Drud
Day One Hundred Sixty-Seven: "Big Inches" by Ralph Robert Moore
Day One Hundred Sixty-Eight: "Rat Beach" by William Styron

Day One Hundred Sixty-One: "The Worst Girl's Best Day" by Susan Rukeyser

Concessions.

The reader watches as a young girl goes from being the "pig" mascot at a supermarket to finding herself, leaving her life behind where she is alone and an outcast. She takes to the road and hopes for the best but in the end, the reader doesn't have the hope that she does. On a stylistic note, this story is rich in details and a very enjoyable read.

This tale is about starting over...the belief that starting over can make a difference. I'm not convinced but I still feel for this character. I want her to be more than this even if I don't know what her future holds.

Day One Hundred Sixty: "PS" by Jill McCorkle

Confession.

A woman writes a letter to her therapist explaining her mania and why she feels her therapist is the cause of it rather than the cure. Told in the first person, the voice in this story is convincing and original and it keeps the reader engaged from the opening sentence of the letter as addressed to Dr. Love:

"By now you have gotten several letters from me and this will probably be the last."

This story absolutely doesn't stop. It's funny, disturbing, sad, and engrossing. I'd read more of these letters if there were more to read.


A link to the story online is here:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/08/ps/7540/

Day One Hundred Fifty-Nine: "Black Box" by Jennifer Egan

Direction.

A woman lists the requirements to satisfy her "designated mate" and reflects on the need to reflect on her situation. It was an interesting read and told entirely in the second person which is rare and made the story come off as choppy but still entertaining in parts.

I'm not sure how I really feel about this story but I admire what the author was trying to do with playing with form and voice. A link to the story online is below:


http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/06/jennifer-egan-black-box.html

Day One Hundred Fifty-Eight: "A Clean Well-Lighted Place" by Ernest Hemingway

Empathy.

Two waiters discuss the plight of a local drunkard and the rationale behind his nightly ritual of drinking until 3:00 in the morning. The story explores the dark and scary side of failed suicide and its implications for the life that remains but at the same time the story doesn't try to explain anything. It simply poses questions. The reader is not given any answers which I quite liked.

A link to the story online is below:

http://www.mrbauld.com/hemclean.html

Day One Hundred Fifty-Seven: "The Vibraphone" by Rita Dove

Infatuation.

A young vibraphone player searches out the musician she most admires. He has abandoned music himself, exiled to a distant city when this young woman finds him. She listens. She hears his music, his complaints, his history that includes seducing and marrying a woman much like her. There is a quality to this story that was enticing and for a poet, I was very impressed by Dove's prose.

A link to the story online is here:

http://people.virginia.edu/~rfd4b/Vibraphone.pdf

Day One Hundred Fifty-Six: "The Ascent" by Ron Rash

Neglect.

A young boy dealing with drug addict parents finds an abandoned airplane in the mountains of North Carolina and scavenges the dead bodies for jewelry, not knowing that revealing his discovery to his parents will result in them pawning off the jewelry for more drug money. When he realizes what his parents have done, he finds his way back into the snow covered woods and climbs into the plane to "save them" as if he has the ability to do that when he can't help his parents at all.

Talk about a sad and frightening look at what it must be like for a child to watch his parents in the grips of addiction. This story reflect neglect at its most unnerving. This boy was destined to be lost.

Day One Hundred Fifty-Five: "Feeling Lucky" by Michael Knight

Week Twenty-Three Short Story Selections

Day One Hundred Fifty-Five: "Feeling Lucky" by Michael Knight
Day One Hundred Fifty-Six: "The Ascent" by Ron Rash
Day One Hundred Fifty-Seven: "The Vibraphone" by Rita Dove
Day One Hundred Fifty-Eight: "A Clean Well-Lighted Place" by Ernest Hemingway
Day One Hundred Fifty-Nine: "Black Box" by Jennifer Egan
Day One Hundred Sixty: "PS" by Jill McCorkle
Day One Hundred Sixty-One: "The Worst Girl's Best Day" by Susan Rukeyser

Day One Hundred Fifty-Four: "This is a Voice from Your Past" by Merrill Joan Gerber

Mistrust.

A woman hears from an old classmate who, as it turns out, is freeloading after failing at his attempts at becoming a writer. He is a con artist of the worse kind and while she suspects it, the reader sees this woman trying to believe him, to trust him, and ultimately, keep him in her life. But she has made a mistake and by the story's end, the woman is paranoid and this man, her old friend, is haunting her. He is there in every unanswered phone call, in every knock at the door. It was a mystery story in its own way from start to finish and I could NOT stop reading.

I'd read this author again for sure. The flow and the feel of the story was fantastic!

Day One Hundred Fifty-Three: "A Family of Breastfeeders" by Starkey Flythe, Jr.

Pride.

A young boy recounts having heard about being from a family of breastfeeders. He knows every story, every analogy, every euphemism, and it's hilarious to watch his observations on the page. I personally loved this story because I could relate to the explanations and the rationales given by nursing mothers. There is such a sense of pride that is conveyed in this story that is done perfectly and not overtly. I very much enjoyed this read. The dialogue was spot on and the details entertaining, keeping the story moving from humorous comment to humorous comment.

Day One Hundred Fifty-Two: "You Don't Defriend Them" by Jeanne Holtzman

Hurt.

This story shows us a woman who is monitoring her ex-lover's facebook page. She sees when his profile pic changes, notes how he seems to have changed too. The simple way in which the reader sees the narrator react to the appearance of "gummi bears" on her ex-lovers Facebook page is enough to make this story worth the read. But the ultimate conclusion of course, that you don't dare "defriend" him...well, it's brilliant. This was such a unique read and extremely relevant in today's social media crazed environment.

And talk about the hurt. Every reader has felt this...THIS! What a surprise of a story.

Day One Hundred Fifty-One: "Black Dog" by Walter Mosley

Appearances.

A black man on trial for assault is helped by a woman who runs a local animal shelter. She is the daughter of parents who were Civil Rights activists and who have shown her that race is just a label. She steps in to defend the man after he is accused of attacking a driver who struck and almost killed a dog and winds up coming across, ironically, as more of a source of shame for him. The life behind bars is one he knew, understood, had spent nearly 30 years coming to grips with. But the new labels, the new chances, the newness period seem to frighten him.

I thought this story was well written and it has so many layers to it that my review here is only scratching the surface I'm sure. I'd read more of this author for sure.

Day One Hundred Fifty: "A Last Fling, Like" by Richard Yates

Conceitedness.

A young girl returns from Paris after taking one last trip before her marriage and shares her exploits with a girlfriend over coffee. This story was a combination of testing the limits of what women were allowed to do in terms of "finding themselves" particularly in relation to what was expected or allowed of men, and also, it was a great exercise in voice. The entire story was told in monologue, the narrator the only one speaking. There is clearly another woman in the story but the woman is silent and the reader is left to imagine or cringe at what the woman must be thinking. I quite like how Yates put these two women in the story and made me equally as interested in both despite never hearing from one of them.

As I suspected, I wasn't disappointed in Yates with this short story. I'd read more.

Day One Hundred Forty-Nine: "And the Greatest of These" by Louis Gallo

Loyalty. Selflessness.

An apparent homeless man shows up on the doorstep of a man's house but it turns out, the homeless guy is the man's wife's uncle. The story then becomes an observation by the reader of how the man takes in his wife's family, how he nurtures him despite clearly not wanting to. He wants his freedom and time alone with his wife but it's family. Blood. There is a reference to blood several times that reiterates this point. Ultimately, the story concludes with the husband and wife deciding that the uncle needs to go but then, there's a storm and the uncle is scared. They all three pile into one bed and everything is made better. The world, the night, is okay for a change. There is hope after all.

WHAT A WONDERFUL READ!!! I'm thrilled to have discovered this author. The description, the flow, the general atmospher of this story could not have been more real. Loved it!

Day One Hundred Forty-Eight: "Breathing" by Danit Brown

Separation.

A man struggles with fatherhood, with how to love and protect his young daughter and keep his sanity in tact while at the same time maintain his once tender relationship with his wife. He feels lost, alone, and useless as his daughter gets older and in his mind "favors" the mom.

This was a beautifully told story that I will not soon forget. There is a scene where the father shows up at his daughter's school when overcome with worry about her being abducted and him witnessing her defending herself on the playground. When he then tries to "save" his daughter and takes her to lunch at McDonald's, there is no way the reader of this story won't cringe and shed a tear at the same time.

Brilliant. Memorable. Heartbreaking.

Week Twenty-Two Short Story Selections

Day One Hundred Forty-Eight: "Breathing" by Danit Brown
Day One Hundred Forty-Nine: "And the Greatest of These" by Louis Gallo
Day One Hundred Fifty: "A Last Fling, Like" by Richard Yates
Day One Hundred Fifty-One: "Black Dog" by Walter Mosley
Day One Hundred Fifty-Two: "You Don't Defriend Them" by Jeanne Holtzman
Day One Hundred Fifty-Three: "A Family of Breastfeeders" by Starkey Flythe, Jr.
Day One Hundred Fifty-Four: "This is a Voice from Your Past" by Merrill Joan Gerber

Day One Hundred Forty-Seven: "On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning" by Haruki Murakami

Divinity.

A man meets the perfect woman and she acknowledges that she too has met the perfect man in him. Yet, the two of them decide to part ways to "test" fate if you will, to see if they will meet back up without any acts of their own in order to convince themselves that they are truly meant for each other. Things happened at first too easily, too quickly. The rest of the story shows the reader what happens when people in love opt for a test of the future instead of opting for the here and now. A sad ending. It was what the narrator predicted from the start. Sometimes, as the story shows, we are determined to fail. We need to fail. Sometimes success is too much to handle.


A link to the story online is here:

http://www.mat.upm.es/~jcm/murakami-perfect.html

Day One Hundred Forty-Six: "Three Questions" by Leo Tolstoy

Lessons.

A king seeks out answers to three questions:

what was the right time for every action?

who were the most necessary people?

how he might know what was the most important thing to do?


He asks and gets very different answers and unsatisfied with the responses, he approaches a hermit digging in the dirt. The hermit refuses to give him any answers and this frustrates the King. He stays with the hermit and overtakes his digging, pleading with the hermit for words of advice. Still, the hermit does not answer but as time passes and events occur, the lesson learned and the answers to the questions are gained by the King. At the conclusion of the story when the King is spared his life because of a kindness he didn't even realize he'd given, the following quote sums up the moral of this story.

"Remember then: there is only one time that is important-- Now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power. The most necessary man is he with whom you are, for no man knows whether he will ever have dealings with any one else: and the most important affair is, to do him good, because for that purpose alone was man sent into this life!"

The following is a link to the story online:

http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/6374/

Day One Hundred Forty-Five: "Back Windows" by Louisa May Alcott

Observation.

A woman sits and stares out of her back window at the world outside, at the children playing, at the adults who don't seem to notice or care what their children are up to, how they are neglecting life. This story is full of detail and reads almost like a list of characters more than it does a story--at least until the conclusion where this quote sums up the entire piece:


"I sometimes wonder if the kind spirits who feel an interest in mortals ever take a look at us on the shady side which we don't show the world, seeing the trouble, vanities, and sins which we think no one knows. If they love, pity, or condemn us? What records they keep, and what rewards they prepare for those who are so busy with their work and play that they forget who may be watching their back windows with clearer eyes and truer charity than any inquisitive old lady with a pen in her hand?"

This was a lovely and surprisingly fresh read for me. I wasn't expecting this from Alcott.



A link to the online story is here:

http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/11301/

Day One Hundred Forty-Four: "Silver Water" by Amy Bloom

Broken.

A woman recounts the mental decline of her sister and how dealing with her sister's mental illness impacts her parents and their lives. This story was on one hand cold and distant but I got the feeling that the author wrote it that way. It didn't read as sappy or melodramatic. Instead, the story shows the reader how a family member's mental illness can sometimes numb those around to the harsh realities of the pain and confusion and desperation that pull the person any given moment. There was unpredictability in this story and in the writing itself. I very much enjoyed the voice and I thought it served the story and its subject matter well.



Here is a link to the story online:

http://producer.csi.edu/cdraney/2010/175/etexts/Bloom_Silver-Water.pdf

Day One Hundred Forty-Three: "The Blue Cross" by G.K. Chesterton

Wisdom.

A detective uses a different way of thinking, of reasoning, to search for a villain. This story read like a treatise in philosophy as much as it did in mystery. I quite enjoyed it though on a philosophical level and the writing was top notch.


A great quote from the piece that I wanted to make sure I posted here:

"The most incredible thing about miracles is that they happen. A few clouds in heaven do come together into the staring shape of one human eye. A tree does stand up in the landscape of a doubtful journey in the exact and elaborate shape of a note of interrogation. I have seen both these things myself within the last few days. Nelson does die in the instant of victory; and a man named Williams does quite accidentally murder a man named Williamson; it sounds like a sort of infanticide. In short, there is in life an element of elfin coincidence which people reckoning on the prosaic may perpetually miss. As it has been well expressed in the paradox of Poe, wisdom should reckon on the unforeseen."

Here is a link to the story online:

http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/15494/

Day One Hundred Forty-Two: "Listening to the Chocolate" by Rebecca L. Brown

Concession.

A woman contrasts chocolate with her lover, pointing out the satisfaction she gets and maintains from chocolate and not from the other. This story could have come off as a bit cliche or even trite but it didn't. There was a clear and unique tone to the narrator's rant that made this very readable and almost addictive...like the chocolate itself. By story's end, the reader is given a treat when the narrator turns the tables. Very nicely done and memorable.

The link to this story can be found here:

http://metromoms.net/2012/05/20/listening-to-the-chocolate-by-rebecca-l-brown/

Day One Hundred Forty-One: "Twelve Days Out of Traction" by Dave Shaw

Commitment. Deceit.

A conman stages fall after fall sustaining injury after injury and makes a living on the settlements procured by con-attorneys. Told from his perspective, this story was fascinating and it moved quickly. I absolutely adored how lovable this character was despite how much I know I should have loathed him. I simply haven't read a story like this and you could tell it was a well researched premise. Nice job by a writer I'd not yet read.

Week Twenty-One Short Story Selections

Day One Hundred Forty-One: "Twelve Days Out of Traction" by Dave Shaw
Day One Hundred Forty-Two: "Listening to the Chocolate" by Rebecca L. Brown
Day One Hundred Forty-Three: "The Blue Cross" by G.K. Chesterton
Day One Hundred Forty-Four: "Silver Water" by Amy Bloom
Day One Hundred Forty-Five: "Back Windows" by Louisa May Alcott
Day One Hundred Forty-Six: "Three Questions" by Leo Tolstoy
Day One Hundred Forty-Seven: "On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning" by Haruki Murakami

Day One Hundred Forty: "What you Pawn I Will Redeem" by Sherman Alexie

Dignity.

A homeless Native American spots his grandmother's regalia in the window of a pawn shop, regalia that had been stolen from his family 50 years earlier. He asks the pawn dealer about it and discovers upon close inspection that it is in fact his grandmother's but the pawn dealer had paid a lot of money for it and he doesn't want to give it away. The pawn dealer and the Indian cut a deal. Then, the story takes off.

How can an Indian turn $5 into $1,000 in 24 hours? It's humorous and sad and heartbreaking and uplifting to watch this man struggle with his inner demons, his addictions, his status as a homeless man on his quest to scrounge up the money he needs. There is such humanity in this piece and the voice is so strong. I feel like I met this man and that I'd want to take him home. Ironically, he would never let me. The streets are his. As the character in the story says "Being homeless is probably the only thing I’ve ever been good at." He takes pride in this life and how he has navigated his way through it. There's something to be said for that kind of pride and certainty.



You can read this story in its entirety here:

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/04/21/030421fi_fiction

Day One Hundred Thirty-Nine: "The True Story of Fresh Springs" by Gretchen McCullough

Recollection.

Two women are murdered in a town ironically named Fresh Springs and the search for the murderer results in an outlandish tale that is unbelievable while at the same time strangely convincing. The suspect is labeled "Superboy" and he is an instant celebrity in the community. As is the case in many murders, the killer is idolized and the girls who were killed have names that are soon forgotten. The small town gets caught up in the drama but because of the way the story is written, it's hard to discern what is actually happening and what is exaggeration. Perhaps this is an example of an unreliable narrator. Even so, the story worked for me and I could read this author over and over and over again.



The story can be found online here:

http://www.gretchenmccullough.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=50&Itemid=72

Day One Hundred Thirty-Eight: "Home for Christmas" by Janhavi Acherakar

Relationships.

A young couple in search of their first home comes in contact with a real estate agent who is quite the character, quite the talker, who metaphorically introduces them to the world around them. Set in Dubai, this story was interesting to read for its regional effect, with spot on language that gave the story that extra thing that made it seem authentic and real to the reader. Perhaps a bit sentimental for my tastes, the story is nonetheless well written and full of rich detail. It's not every day I read a story set in Dubai and that alone made this worth the read.



Here is a link to the story online:

http://www.janhavistories.com/home_for_christmas.htm

Day One Hundred Thirty-Seven: "The Drop" by Alan Glynn

Convergence.

A man falls from a building and contemplates life, albeit briefly, and comes to the conclusion that there are no answers. He lands on the asphalt, is not killed, and he leaps up and runs away. A perfect metaphor for what happens when any of us fall on our faces. This was an extremely short story. Flash Fiction but...I figured it was perfect for today given it is National Flash Fiction Day.

Here is a link to this lovely story:

http://picadorbookroom.tumblr.com/post/23163826303/may-16th-is-national-flash-fiction-day-in-the-uk

Day One Hundred Thirty-Six: "Long Walk to Forever" by Kurt Vonnegut

Last Chances.

A young soldier returns home, goes AWOL in order to tell the girl he loves that he wants to marry her, to prevent her from marrying someone else. At one point in the story, the reader worries that the happy ending won't happen, that the stunt pulled by this young GI won't amount to more than just some embarrassment for him but by the end, we as the readers are cheering and happy and encouraged by a sense that somehow, somewhere, there are people willing to take these kinds of chances for what they want. Love matters. It's worth a shot. You can't quit!

Nice job and a Vonnegut surprise if I do say so, particularly as it relates to the topic. Still, well done and readable.

Day One Hundred Thirty-Five: "The Flowers" by Alice Walker

Reality.

A young girl walks into an unknown field on a hillside and gathers flowers. Just when she is ready to return home with an armful of flowers and other plants, she stumbles when she steps into the skull of a dead man. She stands back and observes that he was a tall man, had large white teeth and as she kneels down to sweep the foliage away from his face, she sees the noose around what was his neck. She immediately lays down the flowers and walks back home. Innocence lost if the little girl ever had it to begin with. What a nice story!

Here is a link to the story online:

http://theliterarylink.com/flowers.html

Day One Hundred Thirty-Four: "Taking the Plunge" by Armistead Maupin

Risk.

A young woman decides to leave her home in Ohio for San Francisco. Mostly, this story is a conversation between the girl and her mother but it still easily stood alone as a full story. This very short piece that serves as the first vignette if you will of the larger work "Tales of the City" is rich in details and I immediately found myself reading beyond the first story and into the second, the third, the fourth, and so on. I'm hooked on Maupin's style of writing. I could not be happier with today's story selection.

Week Twenty Short Story Selections

Day One Hundred Thirty-Four: "Taking the Plunge" by Armistead Maupin
Day One Hundred Thirty-Five: "The Flowers" by Alice Walker
Day One Hundred Thirty-Six: "Long Walk to Forever" by Kurt Vonnegut
Day One Hundred Thirty-Seven: "The Drop" by Alan Glynn
Day One Hundred Thirty-Eight: "Home for Christmas" by Janhavi Acherakar
Day One Hundred Thirty-Nine: "The True Story of Fresh Springs" by Gretchen McCullough
Day One Hundred Forty: "What you Pawn I Will Redeem" by Sherman Alexie

Day One Hundred Thirty-Three: "The Beautiful, Beautiful Heron" by Gayetni

Lessons.

A young boy becomes infatuated with the thought of owning a heron. The only way he can get one is to trade 10 cigarettes for it. To get the 10 cigarettes, he must steal. There is a brief moment in the story where he is presented with a moral dilemma but he chooses to steal. He gets the bird, and strangely, by story's end, he is forgiven and the theft is forgotten. His reward-the bird without consequences. The lesson in all of this or perhaps, the warning?

You may get away with it once but you can't expect forgiveness twice. Overall, this story read like a parable but I didn't find it convincing or persuasive. It would have been more effective in my opinion had there been some sort of punishment for theft, even if slight. Even so, it was an easy to read story and that has merit on its own.

Day One Hundred Thirty-Two: "Anxious" by Susan M. Gilbert-Collins

Faith.

A girl calls her aunt on a weekly basis to discuss her anxiety issues, most of which are centered around the various ways she worries her family will die. Carbon monoxide poisoning, riding lawn mower accidents, lightning strikes, all of these are constant worries for this young teen and her aunt is the only one who can smoothe it over...until the little girl starts going to church and learns to pray. She begins praying to God, thanking him every time one of these terrible disasters does not befall her family. However, her method gets tested in a way that she nor her family imagined when her aunt, the one she confides in, winds up with cancer.

In a story that is compelling and well written, the question of what is FAITH and whether that can be sustained in the face of the actual tragedy instead of the anticipated one at its center. Overall, I enjoyed this story and the voice used. Nice job!

Day One Hundred Thirty-One: "Minotaurs on Holiday" by Paul Mihas

Florentina, a young woman who'd grown up in Buenos Aires, tells the story of her son finding and taking up with a stray dog. There's been a crime in the community, a drag queen murdered and left to die, and that story weighs on Florentina. The subtle comparison between the two people is woven throughout the story.

At the beginning, there is the following line which serves as a sort of overview of what this story is about at is center:

"Florentina was a woman who lived in lowercase letters. The drag queen had managed to die in all caps."


I thought that line was great and it made me interested in the rest of the story and to see HOW the author would tell it. The way he turned his phrases was perfect and insightful. I really enjoyed this story.

Day One Hundred Thirty: "Herman Wouk is Alive" by Stephen King

Collisions.

Two stories literally collide in an automobile collision between a depressed woman,her friend and their 7 children and two aging poets on their way to a reading. The reader sees the desperation and hopelessness in the minivan as the two women talk about their lives back home, the jobs and men they've lost, the worry over how their futures and their kids will work out and this image stands in stark contrast to the renewed hope of the two poets who, at an old age, have found each other again and are strangely happy, a bittersweet reunion complete with roadside picnics and reading to each other in the car as they travel.

The writing was great and the story was beautiful and ironic and cruel. Crafted perfectly to make these two worlds converge, King creates a memorable story about how you never know what is waiting around the corner but you always know that something has to be coming!

The website where this story can be found is here:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/05/herman-wouk-is-still-alive/8451/

Day One Hundred Twenty-Nine: "Fla. Boys" by Heather Sellers

Coping.

A girl recounts time spent with her alcoholic father and how those experiences with her father shaped her own experiences with various boys in her life, experiences both sexual and nonsexual in nature. In a strong and irresistible voice, this story is alive from the beginning, full of vivid detail and wit and dialogue that is flawless. I could not get enough of it. The idea that shaped the story was perfect. You take what life gives you and you make it work. Sometimes it is painful, sometimes is is pleasurable, but it is always memorable.

I absolutely LOVED this story. I will not soon forget it!

Day One Hundred Twenty-Eight: "Spring Training" by Jennine Capo Crucet

Pressure. Comparisons.

A father attends a baseball practice with his son only to find out that the small kid from the team has turned into the biggest kid on the team in the off season. These are middle school kids subjected to their parents egos and it is fascinating to watch how this story unfolds. There is talk of steroids, the divulging of off season practicing tactics, embarrassing disclosures about high school romances. All of it though works to create a sad look at what it can be like for a kid with parents who go too far.

The writing in this piece was really good and it makes me want to read more by this author.

Day One Hundred Twenty-Seven: "Leaving for Kenosha" by Richard Ford

Explanation.

A man spends an afternoon with his middle school aged daughter. It's his designated night to spend with her following his recent divorce and this particular day, while seemingly routine, is anything but ordinary. The daughter's friend is moving away to Kenosha in order for her family to escape the devastation left behind after Hurricane Katrina. The girl asks her father to take her to visit her friend, to give her a card before she leaves. The dad battles Wal-mart for his daughter, drives into a rough neighborhood for his daughter, makes references to the "black" people around them and all of it sets up a situation where there is awkwardness in his love, misunderstandings without explanation, and the daughter gets fed up, wants to move away herself.

The reader senses that this story is one of escape or longed for escape...from New Orleans, from a marriage, from a life that needs fixing. The writing was wonderful and it felt real...almost too real. You hurt for this dad. He is trying very hard to "hang in there" as the story reiterates. He is trying. That's the point.



The story can be found online here:

http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2008/03/03/080303fi_fiction_ford?currentPage=1

Week Nineteen Short Story Selections

Day One Hundred Twenty-Seven: "Leaving for Kenosha" by Richard Ford
Day One Hundred Twenty-Eight: "Spring Training" by Jennine Capo Crucet
Day One Hundred Twenty-Nine: "Fla. Boys" by Heather Sellers
Day One Hundred Thirty: "Herman Wouk is Alive" by Stephen King
Day One Hundred Thirty-One: "Minotaurs on Holiday" by Paul Mihas
Day One Hundred Thirty-Two: "Anxious" by Susan M. Gilbert-Collins
Day One Hundred Thirty-Three: "The Beautiful, Beautiful Heron" by Gayetni

Rounding out my week with a Burmese short story from 1964. Talk about awesomeness!

Day One Hundred Twenty-Six: "A Field of Rice" by Pearl S. Buck

Progress.

A man in a Chinese village challenges the newcomer in power who decides that plowing deep into the soil will yield a better rice harvest. In a story that serves as one enormous metaphor for how the abuse of power can come back to bite the one wielding it, there are flashes of brilliance in quotes like:

"Rice is as willful as woman...forget what it wants and it withers without harvest."

and

"Never slice the skin of the earth."

Overall, this story was a nice read but a little long for me considering what little actually came out of the story. Still, the writing was solid and the message clear. Progress is good but only if checked. Otherwise, destruction awaits and is inevitable.

Day One Hundred Twenty-Five: "Losses" by Libby Schmais

Compounding.

A young girl finds herself at dinner with a married man. The conversation is simple, he doesn't love her. He wants her to know that. He tells her to make it clear, to make it clear to himself mostly it seems but still, she is there and alone at the table in his presence and her night only gets worse. She discovers her wallet is missing. She goes with the man to his apartment and finds she still wants to be with him even though he doesn't want her. She doesn't understand how she feels even though she rationally knows what she should do, how she should handle it all. But it's too much, she is overwhelmed. She stays and they hug and it is enough...sadly.

I read this story as one of a girl on the verge of a mistake. She's teetering and is about to topple when the story ends. If I had to guess, I'd say she will fall. The losses otherwise are empty because without the actual experience, what is there after all to miss?

Day One Hundred Twenty-Four: "Hand" by Stephen Dixon

Self-destruction.

A college professor, angry that he didn't win an award he'd hoped to win, punches his fist through the window in his office and cuts his hand badly. The mental struggle he goes through as he deals with how to then explain what happened to his hand also what happened to his window is an interesting look into the male psyche. I rather enjoyed the back and forth, the "I'm just joking" mentality that keeps the man from truly owning what it is that he did. Even when he tells his wife about his hand, he doesn't tell her everything, the extent to which he let his anger and frustration push him into a corner that resulted in this act of violence, violence against himself.

There is a point when he reassures himself that it's all for the best, that he didn't expect to win the award in the first place but that is the only time during the story where it is clear to the reader that the narrator is fooling himself. Overall, I thought this was a good story, not great, but good enough to make me read more of this writer in the future.

Day One Hundred Twenty-Three: "Roughie" by Stewart David Ikeda

Momentous.

A young boy comes home from school to find his father in the backyard, about to shoot their family pet named "Roughie." The scene is set perfectly. It's chaotic, the boy's sisters are crying, neighbors are out watching to see what will happen, and the daddy is trying his best to keep his kids from seeing what he is about to do but the dog is in pain and maybe rabid so, there is no choice but to shoot. Shooting was the easy part. Hitting the mark was the hard part. The dog doesn't die at first and instead, the death is prolonged and difficult for the reader to observe.

Overall, this was interesting metaphor I think...sometimes, some action that seems so mindless and rational can fall apart when in close proximity to the actual act. For anyone who has ever had to shoot a dog to put it down, for anyone who has ever had to make a decision only to have it haunt you until you retreat from it, this story makes perfect sense. It makes too much sense--but being uncomfortable is what reading is about at times. This story, for that reason, was a success.

Day One Hundred Twenty-Two: "The Apparition of Mrs. Veal" by Daniel Defoe

Advantage.

A woman tells of seeing an apparition of a dead friend and finds that she can profit from the telling of her story. It sounds unbelievable but people are traveling from miles away to hear her speak, to entertain the possibility of the afterlife, the spiritual dark side. The dead woman's husband pleads with her to stop, questions her about her "visit" with the apparition but the woman won't budge. There is something powerful behind her testament, power in numbers as more and more people become interested in this tale of Mrs. Veal.

While this story for me felt like it floundered and I didn't find a clear plot to follow, I still enjoyed it. For a story written so long ago, this one was surprisingly relevant and current and had a theme that is still sort of original.

Day One Hundred Fifty: "A Last Fling, Like" by Richard Yates

Conceitedness.

A woman returns from Paris after having one last hurrah before getting married and this story is basically her telling a friend all about her trip while the two of them have coffee. Interestingly, the story is straight monologue and there is no real interaction between the two women in the story yet, the way Yates writes it, the woman across the table, the woman listening and no doubt disgusted and annoyed by her friend, is VERY present. I disliked the narrator. I'm positive Yates intended it that way. She is to be despised for her pettiness, her selfishness, and her inability to detect those things about herself.

As always, I enjoyed Yates' style and the subtle ways in which he tells it EXACTLY like it is.

Day One Hundred Twenty-One: "Sleepover" by Roxana Robinson

Degradation. Acceptance.

A man suffers the ultimate humiliation as he is forced to answer questions for the first time when his children ask where their mother goes one night a week. These "sleepovers" seem to serve as a rejuvenating force for the woman who returns each week as a new woman, a better mom, a changed spirit. But this is just the overview. The opening scene of the story sets the tone for how painful the ending will be when this father/daughter confrontation finally occurs.

A mother stands in a bathroom applying calamine lotion to her young daugther's leg to treat apparent poison ivy. The girly simply asks her mother, what happens if it itches me during the night and the mom flatly replies that the girl's father will reapply if needed. He's secondary in the mom's mind and with just that quick scene, the reader believes it too. There is more to this story that we don't know. There is more to the father that we want to know. There has to be a reason for her actions. The reader doesn't want to believe that it is as gratuitous as the story projects.

But there doesn't have to be a reason, not in the story and not in this woman's life. Once we start looking for one, we miss the bigger and more important picture. She makes a choice. It isn't a chance or random act. There is will and she is exerting it. For me, in reading the story, that idea at its core is enough.

Day One Hundred Twenty: "Monday or Tuesday" by Virginia Woolf

Exposure.

The idea of "truth" is revealed through language in this rare short short story written by the wonderful Virginia Woolf. Truth in flight, truth in the flight of a heron at sunset or at dawn. Fog glazed like sugar on the mountains in the distance, leaf light, rising smoke, ferns like feathers, images all that shape the story, drive it forward, proving what a master the reader is working with.

In just 5 paragraphs, this story opens the eyes of the reader, a flash of brilliance and beauty, so much left unsaid but cleverly so. I loved loved loved this piece, but then again, rarely has Woolf ever disappointed me.

Week Eighteen Short Story Selections

Day One Hundred Twenty: "Monday or Tuesday" by Virginia Woolf
Day One Hundred Twenty-One: "Sleepover" by Roxana Robinson
Day One Hundred Twenty-Two: "The Apparition of Mrs. Veal" by Daniel Defoe
Day One Hundred Twenty-Three: "Roughie" by Stewart David Ikeda
Day One Hundred Twenty-Four: "Hand" by Stephen Dixon
Day One Hundred Twenty-Five: "Losses" by Libby Schmais
Day One Hundred Twenty-Six: "A Field of Rice" by Pearl S. Buck

Day One Hundred Nineteen: "Excerpt from Echolation" by Myfawny Collins

Toughness.

Two women find themselves in a situation where they are responsible for their aunt's affairs after she passes, a situation that means they will have to deal with a swarm of cats that the aunt left behind. The solution: shoot the cats. This story tracks the two women's decision making processes as they come to terms with this choice. Ultimately, this story is mostly a metaphor for the idea of moving on after a loss. Sometimes it is best to simply take aim and fire. Otherwise, cowardice sets in and in the face of death, that's the last thing anyone wants to have on their backs. Written well, this story appears to be an excerpt of a larger piece and I'd definitely read more to see what other dilemmas these two women will face. Nice work.

Day One Hundred Eighteen: "Peeling" by Nathan Holic

Diversion.

A woman struggling with fertility finds a distraction away from her marital and emotional struggle. She finds herself collecting beer labels, craft beers of all kinds, and saving them, pasting them into a scrapbook. As she catalogues this minutia, the reader sees her disintegrating mental state and can't help but wonder if she will ever be successful in both removing that last unattainable beer label (a Sweetwater 420 label) and the pregnancy she and her husband so desperately want and have been trying for.

This story was well-written and compelling and a very different story than I've read before in its originality. Below is the link to the story. Enjoy.

http://necessaryfiction.com/stories/NathanHolicPeeling

Day One Hundred Seventeen: "Runs Girl" by Chinelo Okparanta

Choice.

A young girl must decide how to help her mother who needs medical attention but who doesn't have the money she needs to get it. Set in Nigeria, the story is both heartbreaking and vivid with images of the lives of the lower class and how those lives are shaped by the poverty, by the corruption around them, and by the limited options they have to overcome any of it.

There is rape, shame, and death without resolution or forgiveness, all things that work together to make this story a nice spin on a traditional theme one sees in literature often. What do we do to protect the ones we love? Are there limits? Do we dare test them? Sadly, the answers this story provides are hard ones but realistic ones. The mother dies. The girl is ruined. Life...goes on.

Day One Hundred Sixteen: "The Manhattan Phone Book (Abridged)" by John Varley

Community.

I loved this story. LOVED IT! Okay, now that I've gotten that out of the way, I have to say that this was a treat and a much needed break from some of the heavier stuff I've been reading and writing lately. Even so, this story has a darkness to it that is not lost in the ease of the read.

It's basically a narrator going through the phonebook and telling the reader about listing after listing, opening secrets, sharing intimate details of the lives that are given names on the page. It is such an innovative and interesting story that by its conclusion, feels like a sort of politcal statement even. That this author could pack so much into a very short story is astounding. I'm not disappointed in the least by this one.

Now I feel compelled to pick up my own phone book and let my mind go!

A link to the story is here:

http://www.varley.net/Pages/Manhattan.htm

Day One Hundred Fifteen: "Out of the Tombs" by Madison Smartt Bell

Doom.

A man looks death in the face, literally. He's playing Chinese Checkers waiting for a class of Tai Chi to finish when there is an image approaching him, beckoning, ominous and strange. Transitioning seamlessly from reality and dream, this story was on one level disturbing but on another level, not altogether very interesting to me. I wanted to like it but I couldn't get there. I re-read the ending several times and I still feel like the story was somehow incomplete despite the vivid descriptions.

Oh well, it was still worth the read I suppose. But now, on to the next story.

Day One Hundred Fourteen: "Petty Thief" by A Yi

Will.

Two cops pursue and decide to torture an orphan who is a petty thief, his only crime, stealing sweet potatoes and cured meat. There is no explanation for their desire to torture the boy and in the end, they find themselves outsmarted by the boy when he escapes. Sadly, the escape is only temporary but there is a level of respect that is established by the mere fact of the escape itself. Ultimately, the two cops rescue the boy from a certain death as he stands on a ledge in fear of retribution.

I sense that on a metaphorical level this story is much richer than what I gathered on a quick first read. This is one I'd return to and even in translation, it is powerful and hasn't lost its strength. That alone says a lot for this story and this writer. Very nice.

Day One Hundred Thirteen: "Little Nightmares, Little Dreams" by Rachel Simon

Resignation. Hesitation.

An aging couple develops a plan to dream together and the story tracks the afternoon when the two plan to actually go through with it. Filled with memories the couple shared and moments that may seem small unless they are the moments shared between two people who love each other, this beautiful story is full of detail, both bittersweet and sweet. The fear they both have about death, about the change it will mean to both of their lives is examined in a subtle and touching way that will make any reader shed a tear or two.

This is an excerpt from the story that makes this point very well I think:

"Then and now, we keep each other from falling. That's what those talks before bed are about. Holding out our arms as we stumble through life together, working each other loose if one of us gets stuck in a bad situation."

I absolutely love this image of an elderly couple so in love with each other that they are still trying to find ways to be closer when from the story, they seem inseparable and content and very much alive and at peace with themselves and their age. I'd read this writer over and over and I look forward to finding more of her work.

Week Seventeen Short Story Selections

Day One Hundred-Thirteen: "Little Nightmares, Little Dreams" by Rachel Simon
Day One Hundred-Fourteen: "Petty Thief" by A Yi
Day One Hundred-Fifteen: "Out of the Tombs" by Madison Smartt Bell
Day One Hundred-Sixteen: "The Manhattan Phonebook (Abridged)" by John Varley
Day One Hundred-Seventeen: "Runs Girl" by Chinelo Okparanta
Day One Hundred-Eighteen: "Peeling" by Nathan Holic
Day One Hundred-Nineteen: "Excerpt from Echolation" by Myfawny Collins

This week, I'm hitting on a Chinese writer, A Yi, and a Nigerian writer, Chinelo Okparanta, to supplement my reading... should be interesting.

Day One Hundred Twelve: "Tower Street" by Pierce Butler

Decline. A man visits his mother late at night on his way home from work. It's not where he wants to go but he is obligated. So he goes and the story that unfolds is a short and heartbreaking look at a mother-son relationship on its way out.

Strangely, I seem to have included several mother-son stories in my reading this week without even knowing it. The comparisons this has allowed me to make is refreshing and unexpected. I wonder what the universe is telling me by sending me into this reading direction. I guess we'll see what next week holds in that regard.

Day One Hundred Eleven: "Something Went with Daddy" by Larry L. King

Clinging. A man observes his mother on the verge of seeming insanity following the death of his father. He witnesses her mental and emotional state unraveling while at the same time trying to keep peace in his home, a place where his wife and his mother do not see eye to eye. Interestingly, this story on the surface seems very straightforward and simple but it has a serious dark side-a father with some sort of mental illness maybe? or simply a father who truly can't swim and loses his life because of it? The reader is left to sort this out but with tons of dialogue rich in southern dialect and spice, this story is one that keeps the reader wanting to know what really happened, what it is that went away with daddy.

Day One Hundred Ten: "Withered Leaves" by Alexander Kielland

Interpretation. A man ponders on the mysteries of art, its effect on people, how easily it may be observed and digested to fit into our own needs at a given time. This man in particular muses that a particular painting he is admiring is about a young couple on the verge of falling apart. He notes how often one stares at a painting and contemplates, one's mind reverting to memories and the wistfulness that accompanies that sort of journey.

Heavy in metaphor and with fantastic lines like the ones listed below, this little Norwegian gem of a short story was a wonderful discovery.

"The only thriving thing in the whole picture is the ivy; for ivy, like sorrow, is fresh both summer and winter."

and
"And in the course of time we all come--each in his turn--to seat ourselves on the empty chair in a corner of the garden and gaze on a little cairn of withered leaves."

For anyone interested, the story can be read here: http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/58175/

Day One Hundred Nine: "Theodore and the Blue Danube" by Ludwig Bemelmans

Identity. A waiter decides to change his life, saves us money, and leaves his lonely apartment one day a new man, a man with an identity that has been restructured by a simple stroke of the pen. He signs a guestbook as "Director" and all of a sudden, it's as if his life has been transformed. People treat him differently, with more respect, all because of the title he has bestowed upon himself. By story's end, he has taken the title to heart. He owns it, is living his life by it with all of the extravagances he imagined that life would entail.

This was an interesting story and it was really well written with lots of interesting details. Coming from 1936, I was amazed at how forward it was, the actual story and the writing. I enjoyed this far more than I anticipated.

Day One Hundred Eight: "I Couldn't Have Dreamed It" by Christopher Coe

Faith. Wake-up.

A woman shows up on her son's doorstep after a gypsy tells her she has one year left to live. With bags packed, she stays at her son's house for one last night and talks of the travels she is about to undertake, explaining that she had no problem spending the rest of her life with her husband, her son's father, but that she couldn't stomach spending the end of her life with him. Her son and his wife try to come to terms with his mom's decision and in turn, examine their own life together and where it is headed and why.

I will say, this story's conclusion is one of the most poignant and heartbreaking ending's I've ever read. Talk about a profound story with so many layers that I'm not sure I fully comprehended all that was going on with just one reading. Sadly, I don't know that I can read this again, not yet. It's a lot to digest, especially if you are a woman, and especially if you are a woman struggling with her own identity, with loneliness, with how to live in the midst of all of it.

Breaks my heart. I wept at this ending. That's all I can say about it for now.

Day One Hundred Seven: "Three Hundred and Forty-Five Horsepower" by Irving Shulman

Dependency.

A young lawyer drives his sports car up the east coast and picks up a "tramp" or hitchhiker on the way. Through their conversations, you get a sort of warning from the tramp about what life can throw at you and how choices you make can shape everything and you see the smug lawyer looking for ways to fix the tramp but you can see, as the reader, that the lawyer isn't really listening like he should. He's driving and he's going fast. His life seems to be on the same speed and this great excerpt illustrates just this:

"With half of his attention given to the road, because never wanted it said of him that he was a man driven by his automobile,he could still hear the monologue of the old man at his side, a monologue of many wanderings...there were countless, better to have lost count, cold showers and bars of abrasive soap in the missions, the necessity to sleep in the raw in unheated dormitories with the two legs at the head of his cot stuck into each of his miserable shoes to keep them from being stolen."

Then, in a clever twist, the young lawyers finds himself questioning whether the tramp is his own father who had abandoned him as a child. When the story concludes, the reader finds the lawyer abandoning the tramp at a restaurant and driving already guilt ridden and swearing himself to secrecy over the meeting of this man and we know he is going to drive his car into perhaps as devastating a future as the tramp had.


WOW...this story was fantastic as a whole. The metaphor being played with was perfect and subtle. I'd read more of this writer for sure.

Day One Hundred Six: "Good Sounds" by Lou Ann Walker

Interpretation.

A daughter recounts her deaf parents' engagement and marriage ceremony, their courtship and its tenderness and the care with which they entered into a life together.

I'm so in love with this writer, with how she draws me into a world of sign language and alternate expression, that I will likely read the entire collection from which this story comes. It's titled "A Loss for Words" and wow, everything in it so far is just beautiful.

Talk about a fresh perspective. A child of two deaf parents. I can only read about this but I feel so honored to do so. This story is a great start!

Week Sixteen Short Story Selections

Day One Hundred-Six: "Good Sound" by Lou Ann Walker
Day One Hundred-Seven: "Three Hundred and Forty-Five Horsepower" by Irving Shulman
Day One Hundred-Eight: "I Couldn't Have Dreamed It" by Christopher Coe
Day One Hundred-Nine: "Theodore and the Blue Danube" by Ludwig Bemelmans
Day One Hundred-Ten: "Withered Leaves" by Alexander Kielland
Day One Hundred-Eleven: "Something Went with Daddy" by Larry L. King
Day One Hundred-Twelve: "Tower Street" by Pierce Butler

Day One Hundred Five: "Conviviality" by Carol Zapata-Whelan

Immersion.

A young girl rides a train and contemplates the cultures of those around her. She listens to Spanish and to Californians acting as if their lives are of significance. It's almost as if this passenger is on some sort of existential journey without realizing it and when the story concludes, the train has stopped and the world is waiting for her.

Is it a social scene she is ready for or is it a social scene at all? Her identity is in question and she is okay with that. Otherwise, the reader doesn't see much else into her mind. I'm not sure I liked the ending because it felt a little too abrupt and left me with a lot of questions. However, the dialogue was authentic and it really moved the piece along. I'd read more of this author.

Day One Hundred Four: "Things We Do Not Want to Hear" by Marcela Carbajo

Avoidance.

A woman suffering from depression gets out of bed and tries to make tea. She tries. That is all she can offer her husband who is apparently not buying in to illness but who is in effect ignoring it. When he tells her he doesn't want to hear what she has to say to him at a moment where the reader can see the woman is about to perhaps make a breakthrough, the husband tells her he knows that what she has to say "will hurt" so he chooses to NOT hear it, thereby condemning her to ONLY hear the very things she can't say...the very things that might just set her free.

This was a sad look at marital communications but it was spot on. We only hear what we want to hear. There is a reason for that.

Day One Hundred Three: "Hands" by Sherwood Anderson

Grotesque.

A man is troubled and paranoid about the size of his hands. He keeps them in his pockets, scared of the looks he'll receive if he removes them and waves them in the air while he talks. He is a man who is defined by this feature and his self-consciousness has made him isolated and lonely.

The story ends with him pacing the floorboards of his porch, looking into the night for someone who won't run away...he is lost to himself and the saddest part is that he knows it.

Day One Hundred Two: "The Backward Fall" by Jason Helmandollar

Coping.

A man observes his wife as she struggles with dementia, moving fluidly between different times in her life, between memories that include him, lead up to him, and some that sadly leave him behind. The reader gets the sense that the marriage, albeit a long one, has had its rocky turns but, in the end, the man is still there. He's more than just an observer. He spends his days coping, allowing her to slip away, documenting in his mind her deterioration whether he wants to or not.

This is a story about love, love challenged and love that persists despite it all. Rich in dialogue, the reader can't help but get caught up in the life of this couple. But what a place for us to begin. So sad.