A standard device in surrealistic writing is to start out with a completely normal situation, which rolls along merrily until the readers are starting to think, “Okay, so what?” And then we begin to realize that the situation is not normal. In fact, hidden behind the daily façade is something horribly abnormal. And this leads […]
“Ned Wakes Up” Short Stories by John Wells
This is a book that gives gentle pleasure, like sitting on a porch on a warm spring evening, listening to a favourite uncle ramble on. The tone of each tale is much the same: intimate, placid and entertaining. These stories are distinguished by incredible attention to detail. The settings are described lovingly, and the minutest […]
“Backstories” by Simon Van der Velde
This book is a collection of short stories with a twist. As the title indicates, they are stories about famous people before they became famous. So, even when you’re enjoying the characters portrayed, you’re also playing the game of “Who is it?” The ending is often a final clue that makes it all fall into […]
“Captain Arnold Other Tales of the Abnormal” by Arthur M. Doweyko
This compilation of short stories is best described by comparison. It has the same style and intent as the old “Outer Limits” TV show. Always questioning our everyday reality. Always wondering, “What if…?” The stories run the gamut of Sci-Fi: a few UFOs, a touch of time travel, a shot of dystopian life of various […]
“Indogene: Stories of Indians Across the Globe” by Sriram Devatha
This is a book of stories that revolve around an interesting cultural phenomenon: the spread of people from India to…pretty much everywhere. It starts in Egypt and covers America, Korea, Suriname and more, expanding as far in time as the 1820s in Singapore and the 1970s in Uganda. This book provides an interesting experience for […]
“Were We Awake: Stories” by L.M. Brown
This is a book about the beautiful, ineffable loneliness of the human inability to share emotions. These people are not the ‘larger than life’ who expose their hearts on a big screen. These are the little souls who live their isolation in every empty minute of their lives. Their failures are the lack of contact. […]
We Call it Monster” by Lachlan Walter
“Monster” is not really a novel and not really a book of short stories, but something in between. It is a set of events that take place as the world (specifically Australia) gradually slips into chaos due to the attack of monstrous creatures from inside the planet, which destroy human society and fight each other […]
“Treading the Uneven Road,” Short Stories by L. M. Brown
The short story is made for the tales of people whose existence is not big enough for a novel. This genre only has room for one small slice of their lives, the moment that defines them, creates them, or ends them. So it is with “Treading the Uneven Road,” a series of short stories about […]
“Strange Medicine” by Mike Russell
There is a sub-genre of short stories that ought to have “Weird” in the name. A short story seems to be the ideal length to explore a simple problem, and certain writers thrive on presenting a simple problem in a complicated and entertaining way, thus keeping our interest alive and our intellects working. By putting […]
“My Shorts” by Arthur Doweyko
Presented with a title like this and a cover image of a man in a spacesuit holding a clothesline with underwear on it, you might expect a certain amount of humour in the book. In the case of this collection, don’t expect it to be of the underwear-on-the-line variety. Any humour Mr. Doweyko blesses us […]