Right now I'm reading Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day, the first collection―of two, so far―by Ben Loory.
Loory's a new writer to me. I read a story by him in a horror anthology recently and was intrigued by it, so I figured I'd check out more. So is he a horror writer? Some of his stories go in that direction, but a lot don't. The book's cover features a tentacle holding a sign on which the latter half of the title is printed. An indicator of eldritch Lovecraftian terrors? No, the story it refers to is about an octopus―it's called "The Octopus"―but it's rather sweet.
In this vein the stories vary from scary to funny to sentimental to just weird. Loory follows where the ideas take him. He's enviably unblocked.
2 comments:
I was intrigued enough by your review, particularly the bit about the octopus, that I went off to find out more. I see Loory teaches short story writing and that his work is widely praised by people who seem to have read the stories - 'fractured fairytales' and 'a thoroughly entertaining antidote to rigid thinking and excessive seriousness' were among the remarks.
The publisher's description also caught my eye:
In his singular universe, televisions talk (and sometimes sing), animals live in small apartments where their nephews visit from the sea, and men and women and boys and girls fall down wells and fly through space and find love on Ferris wheels.
So, anyway, the local library doesn't have it and it was far too expensive on amazon.ca and the book depository too - so I looked at abebooks and found a Canadian seller who had a copy for less than $10. Sold.
Enviable unblocked is high praise from you.
"Fractured fairy tales" is of course a phrase associated with the old Rocky and Bullwinkle show. Don't know that I would have made the association otherwise, but it does fit. A lot of these stories--probably most of them in fact--depict characters who aren't given names, but do have some kind of vivid quality.
Anyway, I'm glad my recommendation had an effect, and I hope you enjoy the book. I think you'll find something to amuse you.
The quality of being unblocked is a real asset. It's very easy to overcomplicate things.
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