SHORT STORY MONDAY: High Spirits by Robertson Davies

High Spirits by Robertson Davies

reviews continued... one more week should finish the book.

"The Cat That Went to Trinity"
A medical biophysics student named Frank Einstein builds a cat.... get it?Nice homage to Frankenstein.

"The Ugly Spectre of Sexism"
Women are admitted to Massey College and a battle of the sexes between ghosts occurs. Some stories are less memorable than others. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the battle of the sexes in the 1970s.

"The Pit Whence Ye Are Digged"
1974 and the anniversaries of the births and deaths of famous poets and politicians has everyone at a dinner transported back in time to 1774 to see what and who their ancestors were.

"The Perils of the Double Sign"
The genie is let out of the bottle and maybe some wishes are granted. Some political commentary on the NDP and the Conservatives is thrown in for fun, timely during this election season.

"Conversations With the Little Table"
William Lyon Mackenzie King is back with his spirits, our famous Prime Minister who was into mysticism and speaking to spirits. Davies puts himself in all of the stories as they are his experiences at the college and the haunting that occurs.

SHORT STORY MONDAY: High Spirits by Robertson Davies

High Spirits by Robertson Davies

reviews continued...


"The Refuge of Insulted Saints"
Who is out revelling on All Hallows Eve? Where do the saints go once they are no longer saints? Why, Massey College of course.


"Dickens Digested"
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity - in short, it was the beginning of the autumn term, and the year was 1969. It seems that there are always students who get absorbed by studying Dickens, and Dickens books stay alive. This story offers a creepy theory.

"The Kiss of Khrushchev"
Part evil-eye curse, part frog-prince, Davies takes the well known and flips them around. I am enjoying his reluctant acceptance of his role in dealing with the spirits that visit Massey College. Sort of a "Oh, great! Here we go again," attitude as another specter appears.

He keeps the tone light, with amusing situations, and then Bam! the creepy part of the ghost story appears and surprises me. I am understanding the appeal of Davies, and will have to add a novel by him to my TBR.

SHORT STORY MONDAY: High Spirits by Robertson Davies

High Spirits by Robertson Davies

a continuation of the reviews

"The Night of the Three Kings"
Davies continues with his annual ghost story during his time at Massey College. His tone is very easy to read and quite amusing. This time he chases down a ghost by the smell of his cigar. King George V was on a mission to reclaim a postage stamp, but carefully following Supernatural Regulations 64A in deciding who he could summon to assist him. Great ending in this one, but it might help to have some understanding of Canadian history and to know about WLM King's interest in the spiritual world.

"The Charlottetown Banquet"
Surely John A MacDonald is worthy of a ghost story himself, and in typical Canadian irreverence, his view of Canada is not what one would expect from the Father of our Country. Plus, amazing descriptions of food and drinks from the Charlottetown Conference in 1864. I could probably find the place downtown where the meal was served and really get in the mood while reading the story.

"When Satan Goes Home for Christmas"
Apparently, his listeners got tired of all his ghosts being famous, so Davies had to change his story a bit. But really, I think Satan is just as famous as the others, Davies just gets a chance to put down the egalitarians that had been complaining. Also, I forgot that the Devil was an angel at one point and got put out of God's Kingdom. Everyone wants to go home for Christmas.

SHORT STORY MONDAY: High Spirits by Robertson Davies

Last year for the RIP II challenge, I was reading the most excellent Stephen King collection, Everything's Eventual. I recently went back and reread those reviews, which I posted a few for every Short Story Monday. It was fun to do and fun to reread about the stories. For a few reasons, this book was chosen:

Earlier this year, Nicola reviewed this Robertson Davies book of ghost stories, and I noted it as a terrific book to read for this year's RIP. Davies is also Canadian and he went on quite a run at John Mutford's Great Wednesday Compare. How could so many people be raving about his books and I've never read anything of his, and barely heard of him? And then, the last piece to this synchronicity explosion: bybee changed her literary fanboy crush from Nick Hornby to Robertson Davies. This was huge. And I just found out that it is Short Story September. So now the stage is finally set to read a Robertson Davies short story book of ghost stories.

"How the High Spirits Came About" Davies explains that these ghost stories came about during his years at Massey college in Toronto. Every year at Christmas he would tell a ghost story. The college was famous for having a ghost in living there, and Davies tried to pay homage with his stories to some famous scary stories. It helped to know that these were meant to be read aloud.

"Revelation From a Smokey Fire" The narrator is in his study and the fire is smoking too much. Suddenly someone appears, another Master of the College from the past, or is it? This was very cute and funny.

"The Ghost Who Vanished By Degrees" A scholar who failed his PhD thesis and then killed himself, comes back and insists on trying again. For the PhD, not the suicide.

"The Great Queen is Amused" A spell accidentally brings some dead characters alive, including a number of Canadian authors. I didn't recognize many of them, but I did notice Susanna Moody, she probalby wasn't fun to talk to. The spell came from an Aleister Crowleymagic book. Now that name rings bells, but I am blaming Stephen King, or maybe it's from Good Omens?

....more next week...

I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!-- Dr. Seuss

SHORT STORY MONDAY: The Summer My Grandmother Was Supposed to Die by Mordecai Richler

The Summer My Grandmother was Supposed to Die by Mordecai Richler

from my Norton Anthology from university

I enjoyed my read of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Richler so I thought I'd read his short story for my return to Short Story Monday. ( Did I mention Duddy's brother's name was Lenny? Is that a coincidence?)

Stories told of children's remembrances of youth are always somewhat suspect, as their version of events may be quite different from the adults of the same events. The title quite explains the events, but the back story of the situation that led the grandmother to live in the back room of the narrator's house, and the family decision to have his mother tend her mother, and then the family squabbles and tension that develop while caring for an elderly family member make up the bulk of the story. So this story is quite relevant today for the baby boomers looking after their parents. I liked the look at Jewish culture, as it is something I am not exposed to at all, and am not very familiar with. I know in larger cities, the Jewish population is bigger, but in PEI, there is not one I am aware of. The ending was a little touching too.

This story was in the section titled Focus and Voice, so the first person narrative and the perspective of the child were supposed to be important. It suggested rewriting the story from the mother's point of view. No thanks, I can imagine it, or find a novel to give me that experience. I'm a reader, not a writer.

SHORT STORY MONDAY: A Child's Christmas in Wales

A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas

More 'getting in the spirit' reading with this classic story. What an adorable book, so well written, and it is just like your own remembrances of Christmas' past, with different years blending into one, different stories, making you think - When did that happen? But it doesn't really matter, because it is the blending of all those events that combine to give you the warm fuzzies about Christmas, and that cause me to wonder how my own children's memories of Christmas will combine.

My edition was beautiful, with illustrations by Trina Schart Hyman that contributed to the over all feel of the book, although there was something about them which reminded me of The Great Brain books, but that didn't detract too much. Thomas describes the presents, both useful and useless; the music, and carolling; and the aunts and uncles. But he is a poet, so it isn't even what he says as how it says it. And this might just become a Christmas tradition for me.

SHORT STORY MONDAY: classic stories

"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce

subtitle: Famous Short Stories I Have Never Read But Should Have

part 1 of many

I chose this story from my Norton Anthology because I remembered a reference to it from a Lost episode. The better read I become, the more allusions make sense to me. When you recognize the reference, it adds a whole other layer to the experience, and now that is making me very nervous for the whole Lost show, because this allusion makes the surrealness of Lost all the more explainable. I have to give away the ending to discuss this short story, because the ending is the story, and it is a twist, so if you haven't read this already, you better not read anymore.

"An Occurrence" takes place during the American Civil War, and describes in gory detail the hanging of a Confederate sympathizer who has been set up for capture. After Peyton falls off the bridge in the noose, it breaks and he hits the water, and manages an escape. After wandering the woods for a while, he finds his home, and this scene was the same scene as in the movie Gladiator, when Russell Crowe is dying and imagines his estate, with his wife as he runs to her just before he dies. The final scene in this story is as jarring as a noose breaking a neck.

I liked this story, it was easy to read, and as I read the explicit details of the hanging and what happened to the body, I felt the need to check the date of the story. It felt modern, and graphic, and I was very surprised to read the date as 1891. So violence and graphic descriptions aren't new to the last twenty years, they have always been around. I like knowing that this plot twist, so famous in many other shows and movies probably started with this story. Now I want to go back and rewatch all the references to "The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" that I never understood before. Especially that Lost episode.

Some pop culture references that I recognize: taken from Wikipedia

In 2005, Kurt Vonnegut referred to "Occurrence" in his book A Man Without a Country as one of the greatest works of American literature, and called anyone who hadn't read it a "twerp".
In 2006, Bierce's story was referenced on an episode of the ABC television series Lost entitled "The Long Con".
At the end of "My Occurrence", an episode of the TV series Scrubs, it becomes apparent that the lead character has imagined many of the events of the episode as he does not want to believe that a friend has cancer.

SHORT STORY MONDAY: Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather by Gao Xingjian

Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather by Gao Xingjian

collection of short stories

This is a slim collection from the Nobel Prize Winning author Gao Xingjian. I'm pretty sure I'm doing his name wrong, but 3M is counting this for an X author, so that's good enough for me!

I confess that Nobel Prize winning author brings me connotations of 'boring' and 'too deep' for me to get, and unfortunately, this book lived up to my expectations. I think these are the kind of stories people talk about when they say short stories leave them missing something. These stories have an added distance in that very few characters are ever named. There is a distance from each story that doesn't allow you to get involved.

"The Accident" describes a bicycle-bus accident on a busy city street. It was accurate in describing the scene, and describing how the witnesses all react, each reading their own life into what they observe. But not much actually happens, and we don't find out anything that happens to the victims. I think it is supposed to represent the impersonal aspect of living in large cities, and how we witness events and never find out what happens after it's over. Then the narrative suddenly switches to a philosophical analysis, and tries to explain how it might not have happened and accidents aren't statistics and it ended so weirdly.

But not as weird as the title story. I don't even know what that one was about. A man is reflecting on his childhood and grandfather, but then the narrative becomes jumbled and there are references to not finding his home, and deserts and lakes and sand, and then he is describing a soccer game in the middle of a two page paragraph. I guess he is watching TV and dreaming about his childhood. That might actually explain it, but doesn't help me because I don't like reading about dreams in stories; they are weird enough when they are my own, and then to try and interpret someone else's dream. Blah.

Summary: I think this book is deep, and probably good for big thinkers, but I don't want to have to work that hard on my reading. The stories I read can have layers, but the top layer has to make sense, or I won't bother looking below the surface.

SHORT STORY MONDAY: Two Tales For the Holidays

The Christmas Tree by David Adams Richards
Two Tales for the Holidays

I recently read Richards book Hockey Dreams and really enjoyed the writing of his reminiscence of life playing hockey on the Miramichi River. This slim little volume is more of the same, but fictional, thoughts of Christmases from ago.

Carmichael's Dog tells the story of two little boys, who find a dog on Christmas Eve, which is, of course, the perfect present for their widowed mother. But the story is more about what life used to be like, when kids ran the neighbourhood, outside all the time, with nothing more than a 'be home by dinner' as they live. It is also about the rules of the street, being confronted by another kid when you are doing something you aren't supposed to do. And Richards has a way of writing, that brings you right back there.

The Christmas Tree is the story with the miracle of sorts. Two brothers, again, in their twenties go looking to chop down a tree, because in those days, nobody buys a tree. My husband was like this when I met him - they always chopped down a tree from the woods, he could not understand buying a tree. So these boys, and a neighbourhood urchin whom they don't know, go to the woods looking for a tree. But like most university age kids, the trip was afoot before any real plan, like an axe, was thought of.

Both stories had plenty of humor, and were perfectly touching for Christmas. And because they are memories, just like all Christmas memories can be, are looked at through the rose coloured glasses. But this is just the kind of story to read to get in the mood for Christmas. I am becoming quite a fan of Mr Richards' writing. My only problem here was that these were fiction, and the last book of his I read was nonfiction, and I felt like these was his real stories, so that distracted me a bit. Christmas stories are perfect for short stories, so I'll have to look for some more.

SHORT STORY MONDAY: Monkfish Moon

I bought this collection of short stories by Romesh Gunesekera after I read his book Reef earlier this year. I enjoyed it, sort of a Half of a Yellow Sun light, but set in Sri Lanka instead of Nigeria.

Gunesekera is from Sri Lanka and his stories describe the immigrant dilemma - living in a new place but remembering the old country, trying to assimilate and yet maintaining old traditions. The short story Storm Petrel, has the narrator meeting CK, and old mate from Sri Lanka. CK has just returned from a visit and is marvelling at the changes, and planning for a new life back home. The narrator listens to his tale and inserts comments, both aloud and internally.

I had to look up storm petrel, to understand the significance of the title. It's a little seabird, colonial nesters, displaying strong philopatry to their natal colonies and nesting sites. I don't usually like having to look up information to understand what I read, but I'll do it for Short Story Monday. In this case, it makes sense, the immigrant wanting to return home.

Although the characters and setting are London and Sri Lanka, it reminded me of the Maritimes, and the people who leave, but always have in their mind that they will return. They will have made tons of money, tons for what you need to live here, they'll come home to this imagined place in their memory. But it does change, and so have they. It isn't the place they remember. They want to return to an idyllic life, simple, like they remember the life they left. But what makes it appealing to come to is that the life has changed and progressed. So it can't be the way they remember.

So welcome to short story Monday; leave a comment, tell us what you've read. I'm hosting this week, and if you are interested in hosting, let john mutford or my know, we don't mind sharing! The more the merrier, and all that.

SHORT STORY MONDAY: coming soon

Just letting you know, I'm hosting short story Monday this coming week. If you happen to read a short story, why not write a little reveiw and come here, and I'll put all the links together. I kept pretty much to the creepy theme during September and October, so I am hoping to branch off, and find some of those links that johnmutford at The Book Mine Set kept posting. He finds all finds of short stories on the internet, for free, and then posts about them. I've been intrigued, and imagine with the power of google, I can find some short stories of my own.

I'll bet there are some short reads at http://www.dailylit.com/ , a pretty cool little site that will deliver public domain books to your e-mail box, everyday. Then, as you read your emails for the day, you can read a book. Some take a long time, but many are shorter.

Or, if you are like me, you have a Norton's Anthology of Literature in your basement somewhere from University. I didn't take the time to enjoy assigned reading in those days, but there are a few short stories that still stand out, and could do with a reread.

If Hurricane Noel gets crazy here, we might lose power. If that's the case, now you know why I might not be around. You should still read a short story though, and post here if you have to. I'm sure I'll get internet connection back up at some point.

SHORT STORY MONDAY: a small peril

The Specter Bridegroom by Washington Irving

I thought I'd try an older spooky short story after my Stephen King escapades. And you can see how scary subjects have changed over the years, because this little story didn't seem scary at all, actually, it was a little funny. I kept picturing it as a Three's Company episode. OK, I'll begin at the beginning.

I found this story in a small collection called Great Tales of Suspense, which was in the children's section of the library. It includes stories by HG Wells, Charles Dickens, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, so I'm sure they are supposed to be scary. The setting was an old castle in Upper Germany, the castle of Baron von Landshort. And yes, even by that name I was amused. He is a little down on his luck, but still proud and yet carrying grudges. He will become Mr Roper in the story in my head. The baron was 'a dry branch of the great family of Katzenellenbogen.' Did you giggle there? I know I did when I said that name in my head. So Mr Roper is trying to marry off his daughter - no wife is mentioned. The beautiful daughter, we'll call Chrissy, has been raised by two maiden aunts, we'll call them Mrs Roper and Janet. My analogy doesn't work perfectly, but bear with me. The Baron arranges a marriage, but nobody in the castle ever meets the guy before the marriage. All the poor relatives arrive for the wedding.

The bridegroom is riding to meet his future wife and runs into an old friend from his army days, Jack Tripper, who alas is an enemy of Mr Roper, but it's an enemy back of few generations, so they haven't actually met. Can you see the set up? It seemed so obvious to me from a mile away, through the Black Forest. The old pals are accosted in the woods and the bridegroom is killed. Jack Tripper agrees to head to the castle to tell the bad news and espy the beautiful bride he has heard of through the neighbourhood, perhaps down at the Regal Beagle over a few beers with Larry.

When he arrives, late, everyone is so happy to see him, and they think he is the bridegroom, so they don't let him tell that he is not who they think he is. He stays, has dinner, makes googly eyes at the bride, and she back. and then leaves. The next day they get word at the castle that the original bridegroom had been killed, so they all think they met a specter.

I won't give away the ending, but Chrissy often ends up as the wise one amongst the idiots, and that darn mix up is usually figured out. If you can figure out a Three's Company episode, this won't be too surprising. So, my question now is, have we changed so much, been exposed to so much that this was once spooky? Or was this really an amusing little story, not meant to be very scary? I've read some books this year, like Frankenstein and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, which were creepy, and held up to modern scrutiny, to an extent, since those stories are so famous, that the endings were not surprising.

I enjoyed the story, and making it a 70s sitcom in my head, but I wouldn't call it a Great Tale of Suspense. I must go look for another Washington Irving story, because I'm pretty sure he can do scary. This wasn't it. This was pretty funny, and maybe even on purpose.

SHORT STORY MONDAY: a small peril

from the Everything's Eventual collection by Stephen King



L.T.'s Theory of Pets
King says this is one of his favorite stories to read from at readings, because of the combinations of emotions that get played. It began with a Dear Abby letter, as many great conversations often do. The letter was about how you should never give a pet to someone as a present, for all the reasons you can imagine. The story follows what happens to one couple who give each other pets. It's told from a male/female, doomed marriage point of view, but suddenly, at the end, the mood changes, and bam! That's why it is in this collection.


The Road Virus Heads North
Supernatural creepiness, as a painting comes to life, like a terrible virus. What if a painting was like a virus, mutating and causing havoc in its wake? King also takes some time here to write autobiographically and slam at his critics, as his main character is a famous, horror writer from small town Maine who gets no respect, except from his fans. Where does he come up with this stuff?


Lunch at the Gotham Cafe
The fear here that is so scary, is, what if something completely random happens? What if you happen to be in a restaurant when a nut job goes crazy? Sometimes I go through phases where I watch a lot of crime drama on TV, the CSI's, the Law and Order's, Criminal Minds type of shows. Then they start to get too weird, too random, and too creepy as there are only so many murders by spouses that can happen before it's time for a random killing. And random killings are what can cause people to become irrationally afraid of statistically unlikely events.


That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French
A woman is having deja vu, on her way to a second honeymoon with her husband. There are secrets between her husband her and herself, and some tension between them on the ride. I liked this one a lot, and might go back and reread, because there was some more to his one, but I can't tell, because that would ruin the ending for you. There were some nice techniques in the writing, and I wasn't sure what exactly was going on, but it was a good ending.


john mutford is hosting Short Story Monday today, and he is getting into the Halloween spirit, reading a spooky story. If you've written a short story post, go on over there and comment and he'll put all the posts together. I'm just about done my Stephen King book - three more stories, and Fragile Things came in the mail last week.

SHORT STORY MONDAY: a small peril

The Little Sisters of Eluria
Everything's Eventual
from the collection by Stephen King

October will be two-for-one for this collection of Stephen King stories as I want to get through it by Halloween, and for the RIP II challenge.


The Little Sisters of Eluria
And now I remember when I stopped reading Stephen King: The Dark Tower/Gunslinger era. I tried to read the first book, and could not read it. I didn't get the story - the setting, the characters, the quest. I can usually immerse myself in other worlds - Neverwhere by Gaiman, and Harry Potter's wizard world, but just like Middle Earth of Tolkien, King's Gunslinger doesn't work for me.
Unfortunately, Little Sisters of Eluria would be a prequel for the Gunslinger. I read it, it had vampires, it wasn't as incomprehensible as I remembered, but I'm still not planning to read The Dark Tower. There were some interesting concepts, like the doctor bugs, although I am getting a shiver just thinking of them again.

Everything's Eventual
What if you had the power to deal with bullies and bad guys? Just by making a suggestion or writing a letter, you had the ability to get rid of them? And who decides who the 'bad' guys are?
This is the interesting premise of the title story of this collection. Eventual means 'awesome' in the slang of the narrator. It becomes an interesting play on words. Certain people in the world have this ability, this trait, to cause deaths, and a multinational company hires them to deal with whomever they need to, after an extensive indoctrination at the company headquarters. In the tradition of great dystopian novels, our narrator begins to suspect something is wrong with this plan, but can he get out of it?

Am I hosting this week? Sure. If you have read and reviewed a short story on this Monday or weekend, provide a link in the comments and I'll put them together at the end of the day.

SHORT STORY MONDAY: a small peril

I'm hosting Short Story Monday again, so please feel free to leave a link to a review you've written of a short story in the comments. I'll collect them all together at the end of the day. I'm continuing my reviewing and slow reading of Stephen King's Everything's Eventual.
I didn't get squares baked for any visitors to Short Story Monday; my grade twelve physics tests got corrected instead. (I can't even pretend lie on the internet about imaginary baking)

In the Deathroom by Stephen King
I am struck by how much I am enjoying this collection of King's. His writing is so wonderful and easy. This one had quite a bit of suspense, as we begin with Fletcher, under guard and beaten up, entering a room that he is sure is a deathroom, his deathroom. It's not clear why he is here, if he is a good guy or a bad guy, or even where this is located. Gradually, it is revealed that this deathroom is in a police station of sorts, in a South American/Central American country. King makes great use of repetition here, reinforcing important facts and sentences, as if by repeating the phrase, Fletcher can tell us twice as much, when he only really says half as much.

King can turn a phrase and set an image: He thought of the light on the water at noon, moving river light too bright to look at. Later, Fletcher tries to focus during his torture on images, not memories, as memories are too difficult. Oh yes, there is torture here, and gory descriptions of what exactly goes on when a bullet rips a face or a person is electrocuted. I am reading King after all. King calls In the Deathroom "a Kafka-esque story about an interrogation in a South American version of hell." Makes me wonder if I'm ready for Kafka.

If I hope to finish this book before October 31, I'm going to have to step it up and read several stories each weekend. That is one of the things I like about short stories: that a collection of stories provides an atmosphere, and although the stories are not connected per se, a good collection has a feel, a theme running through them, and it is all the stories together that make up the experience.

So, feel free to share any short stories you are reading. John Mutford at The Book Mine Set is hosting a Bookworms Carnival in November with a short story theme and is looking for submissions.

Other Short Story Monday participants:

john mutford read A Small Good Thing by Raymond Carver

stephanie read more Neil Gaiman stories from Fragile Things

SHORT STORY MONDAY: a small peril

Hello. Welcome. I am hosting Short Story Monday today. The coffee is perking and I made fresh rhubarb squares for everyone. Let's talk about short stories. If you read one this week, or made a post for the RIP small peril, or have something to share, make a comment and I'll link everyone up at the bottom of the post. John Mutford has been hosting for a while, but he had to get his hair done today, so I offered to step in. I meant to learn how to post Mr Linky for this, however, time was short and it didn't happen. I only had time today to read a short story. How satisfying that can be: to sit and get the full story, in short form, perfect for us busy people.


The Death of Jack Hamilton written by Stephen King from Everything's Eventual

From the first sentence: Want you to get one thing straight from the start: wasn't nobody on earth didn't like my pal Johnnie Dillinger, except Melvin Purvis of the FBI., you already know a lot about where this story is set and what is going to happen. We're taking about criminals in the early part of this century, like the Untouchables era. I'm not even sure I know who John Dillinger was, but there was just enough of a recognition of the name to set the mood.


Dillinger was a folk hero type of criminal, and upon his death, the conspiracy theories began. This story is narrated by Homer, one of Dillinger's gang, and he provides the evidence to refute one of the claims that Dillenger didn't die: the scar on his face.

Homer tells of one of Dillenger's last escapades, where he obtained the scar. This story is King at his grisly, disgusting best. As Jack Hamilton dies impossibly slow of a gun shot, we are treated to the gory details. In terms of character, King contributes to the mythology of Dillenger, as we get to see him as a true friend, honorable and who operates with a code, and a belief in luck.

This wasn't my favorite story in this collection so far, but King's weaker efforts are still well written and memorable. Unfortunately, this memory is of a gangrene infected bullet hole.



Sorry if that ruined your rhubarb square, did you read something else? Feel free to leave a link in my comments and I'lll collect all the links together in this post. This is my type of party to host - I didn't have to vacuum. I may have you all over again.

The Round Up
Other Short Story Monday participants this week include:
chris at bookarama who read a Daphne DuMaurier

john mutford at the book mine set who read a Stuart Dybek

stephanie at stephanie's confessions of a bookaholic who read a few Neil Gaimans

Stop by, have a visit, and think about reading a short story for next week. I'll host again next week, unless someone else has some non-vacuuming that they want to do.

SHORT STORY MONDAY: a small peril

All That You Love Will Be Carried Away by Stephen King from the Everything's Eventual collection

King is known for his scary, horror stories, but he does poignancy as well as anyone. He has a way of connecting in little ways with people, his characters, that the reader immediately identifies with. That he can do this so well in a short story speaks to his talent.

Alfie Zimmer is driving, on the road. The story begins as he is checking into a motel in Kansas or Nebraska, somewhere in the desolate prairies. Alfie is typical midlife, Willy Loman salesman, questioning his life and meaning. The interesting quirk of Alfie is that he collects graffiti and studies it as poetry and humor, the comments on America. This was King's germ of an idea that built into a story. I enjoyed the poetry analysis that Alfie applies to his graffiti, and felt for Alfie as he deals with a crosssroads in his life.

EDIT TO ADD: I was thinking about graffiti: I have these wooden squares in my physics lab that I use to ration out the masking tape, because kids use masking tape like they don't have to buy it! Anyway, these little pieces of wood now have the funniest graffiti on them, and they crack me up when I read them. Of course, right now all the funny escapes me, but the witty, pithy comments of well done graffiti are poetry in themselves, especially the ones that get answered.

heh, a short review for a short story

SHORT STORY MONDAY: a small peril

The Man in the Black Suit by Stephen King from the Everything's Eventual collection


I love how Stephen King recognizes the beauty of the nine, ten, eleven year olds. They are at a wonderful age, not a child anymore, just beginning to grow up, but not a teenager yet. They are smart and can think, but still have the wonder and belief in their eyes. (I have a nine year old son myself, so I can see these wonderful qualities for myself) some of his best stories involve this age as main characters - It and Stand By Me come to mind immediately. Philip Pullman also has a ten year old main character in Lyra, saving the world in His Dark Materials' Trilogy.


The Man in the Black Suit is the reminisces of an old man, to a day in 1914, when he was nine (of course) years old. It is a simple story, but told well. Only a nine year old could have this experience and tell it this way, because they don't question what they see, they know. And if a nine year old sees the devil, he knows. He doesn't convince himself that it is something else, or that he dreamed it, or he was mistaken. He knows he met the devil. This is that story.


King includes a little explanation with each story, because he truly has so much to tell. This story was his hommage to a Nathanial Hawthorne story Young Goodman Brown. If I were a more responsible reviewer, I would have also read the Hawthorne story, and compared and contrasted them and had a more complete review. That is not me, however, as I have children to feed instead, but in my head, I can imagine I did that and you are suitably impressed. Mayhaps a commenter can comment and save me the work. Some day Hawthorne, some day.

SHORT STORY MONDAY: a small peril

As one of the RIP perils, Carl has suggested reading a short story of a spooky nature on the weekend and posting about it. At the same time, john mutford has been posting Short Story Monday. I have always enjoyed short stories. Serendipity, no? It does seem to be calling out to me to read and post about some short stories. As I looked at my pile of books, and my RIP list, I seem a little short story heavy as it is. Among the Shadows by LM Montgomery, and Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman are both on my list. I have Everything's Eventual by Stephen King on my alternate list. [I've been carrying this book around since last year, when my sister picked it up in the library on the Grand Princess of our Mediteranean cruise. How great an image is that? A library, with a shelf of take 'em/leave 'em books, to read on the deck, under the Mediterranean sun, with Angelo bringing another strawberry daqueri, with no children?] I didn't get to read the King book last year, so RIP seemed appropriate. And if I read one story a week, this should last me the two months of reading in peril. That's my plan, then: one Stephen King a week, and my thoughts.

Now my Stephen King background: I love him. I mean his writing. I was in a huge King phase, reading most everything I could get my hands on, during the eighties. The Stand - read it in nearly one sitting, and if you know that book, you know the bedsores I had, It, Needful Things, Different Seasons, I mean he has written some of my absolute favorite books. He is so readable. But I went off King, for some reason. Sometime around The Dark Tower series, I lost the thread of his books; they just didn't scream to me or make me scream anymore. So here I am, with the book, and the challenge, and the blog, all coming together in a Short Story Monday. I just started the Introduction and was right back in King fangirl status. Even his intros are good. "Yet for me, there are few pleasures so excellent as sitting in my favorite chair on a cold night with a hot cup of tea, listening to the wind outside and reading a good short story which I can complete in a single sitting." Amen, Mr King, amen.


Autopsy Room Four
With the first story, King leads, 1 -0 in scaring the bejeesus out of me. I was on the edge of my seat for the whole 30 pages. First, I'll have to tell a little story about me. Once, in my single, university dorm room, I had an experience. My brain woke up, but my body did not. I could think, but not move. I tried to move, nothing. I tried to talk, scream, twitch; nothing. I was a little panicked, but couldn't do anything. In a move which characterizes me very well, I gave up and went back to sleep. In the morning, I woke up like usual. Anybody I mentioned this to, dismissed it as a dream, but I know it wasn't. I'm sure I even read somewhere, sometime, that this is a syndrome, or sleep event.


King takes an event, based on an old Hitchcock show, that people would fear: being alive and being mistaken for dead, with no way to let anybody know. Thus our narrator describes, slow step by slow step, his experience in the title. Part of the fear is knowing that Stephen King is writing, and how far will he take you? Does he have any boundaries? He builds and builds the suspence. Is our narrator really alive? Is this really what death is like? Could this really happen?

The characters seem real, and included are his characteristic popular references. For example, the Stones are playing in the background and their songs become a part of the story. King takes advantage of the fact that our imagination is even worse than anything he can come up with, and the genius of his writing is waiting for the story to end, to see how he can possibly finish this other than the ending you have imagined. This one ended a little quickly and corny, but the build up was worth it.
How will I ever wait until next week for King's next short story?