#799 Fingerprints- Justin Bigos

#799 Fingerprints- Justin Bigos

This is a series of memories a boy has of his father. They are not good ones, at least not from the reader’s perspective.

“He drinks a rocks glass of vodka. He drinks a plastic cup of scotch. He drinks a Dixie cup of ouzo, a beer stein of sherry, a mug of warm Chardonnay. He drinks handfuls and handfuls of water from the kitchen sink, combs his hair with his fingers. He has stopped shaking. You’re just getting started.”

The father is a drunk, a criminal, and a thief who at one point stole from his own son. However disgusted with his father the boy gets at times, leading sometimes to physical retribution, these memories are relatively non-emotional. It’s just a child or a adult remembering his childhood and these moments from his life.

Rating: 7-7-6-7 Total= 27

#757 Magic Man- Sheila Kohler

#757 Magic Man- Sheila Kohler

A very somber story. There is nothing more despicable than a child abduction, or the mistreatment of a child. Yet, many cultures have scary stories about just that topic. Fairy tales often have monsters taking young children, sometimes even eating them. They are told, of course, to teach children to be wary of strangers and mind their surroundings, but they are still scary stories.

S.P. is an eight-year-old girl with a troubled over-protective mother. They are visiting her mother’s family in South Africa with her two younger sister’s in tow. She is the oldest and often must take care of her mother’s depression and do things well beyond what an eight year old should have to concern herself with. Her mother clutches her close, physically like a security blanket. S.P escapes to go use the bathroom and comes across a man she believes is the Magic Man from the stories she has been told. Her inability to separate reality from fairy tale, the fault of her mother’s smothering parenting may get her into the type of trouble she has been protected from.

Taken literally, the story is a straight up abduction story, scary and unpleasant. Symbolically the abduction could be seen as the mother’s depression stealing her child away from her or S.P. caught between wanting to help her mother and wanting to escape and be a child—and being frightened of that freedom when she gets it.

The storyline and characters are a loose homage of the German myth Erlkonig (the Earl King) that was a child snatcher with magical powers. Wrapping an abduction story with mythology cuts some of the sharpness of such a distasteful topic. 

Rating: 8-8-8-7 Total= 31

#729 The Siege at Whale Cay- Megan Mayhew Bergman

#729 The Siege at Whale Cay- Megan Mayhew Bergman

Whale Cay is a small 850 acre island 150 miles off the coast of Ft. Lauderdale. It is privately owned by a woman named Joe. There are about 200 or so natives still living on the island but Joe is the first and only authority.

“I’m the doctor and the kind and the policeman. I’m the factory boss, the mechanic too. I’m everything here.”

The story takes place during WWII and even though it is dangerous crossing the U-boat infested waters, Joe still entertains guests, mostly rich, important people. Her current girlfriend Georgie was a dancer in Florida and the epitome of cherry pie, just like Joe likes it. Her family has no idea: “…she’s spent the past three months shacked up with a forty-year-old womanizing heiress who stalked around her own private island wearing a machete across her chest.”

When a famous movie starlet comes to visit, Georgie feels threatened and jealous. She knows her place is likely temporary and doesn’t like the added population to her happy refuge. 

“What exhausted Georgie about Joe’s guests is that they were all important. And important people made you feel not normal, but unimportant.”

This island is exactly that, a refuge. It’s a false Utopia and a place to flee reality, your past, and perhaps your sins—at least for a while. But when problems arise that cant be settled by drinking more rum, the happiness of the island is in peril as is Joe’s position of dominance.

Rating: 8-7-7-7 Total= 29

#694 Crossing- Andre Kocsis

#694 Crossing- Andre Kocsis

James was a war resister and a world class mountain climber. He got himself into some trouble, moved to Canada and now lives off the grid. Thirty-seven years later, he’s a mountain guide going by the name Sierra. He lives in a glorified lean-to in the Alpine and makes money helping skiers and hikers get through the peaks. Occasionally he makes some extra cash guiding pot dealers from British Columbia across the Montana Border.

When he is offered twice his rate to take some foreigners across, he thinks it’s just more dope. But these Russian speaking smugglers are carrying something much more dangerous than drugs. People die, things get lost, and Sierra needs to rely on his experience to survive.

It’s a good backwoods adventure story. The infusion of politics is a bit sloppy and probably unnecessary. I didn’t find it helpful to any part of the story, except why he lived in the mountains.

Notable Passage: “The U.S. is at war again. It took just one generation to forget the lessons of Viet Nam."

Rating: 8-8-7-7 Total= 30

#624 The Devil to Pay- David Edgerley Gates

#624 The Devil to Pay- David Edgerley Gates

This is a top-notch mystery story. The difference between a mystery and most of the other short stories I read, in this case I don’t want to give away any of the plot details. Mysteries don’t really have much value once you know what happens. That said, this tracks down a million dollar gun heist, following a common street criminal, the NYPD, the FBI, the NSA, Mexican drug cartels and the Russian mob. What’s not to like?

Rating: 7-7-8-6 Total= 28 

#540 Malaria- Michael Byers

#540 Malaria- Michael Byers

Orlando was living an OK life in college. He had a girlfriend that he could not imagine living without. “I wasn’t headed anywhere on any fast track, that was plain even then, and I didn’t have any kind of natural flair, but I had Nora, and it felt to me like a fair exchange.”

When he went to visit her parents he met Nora’s brother, George. After playing tennis together, George told Orlando that he had Malaria. It was an obvious lie and it stuck in Orlando’s head. He didn’t tell Nora and life went on. Later that year George began showing signs of mental instability. He felt guilty about not mentioning the Malaria lie, thinking it might have been an early warning sign. It wasn’t, it had nothing to do with him or what lie he was told.

As Orlando and Nora broke up, and things went forward, he learned about creating or finding his own identity. “I think this summer was also the period when I first struck on the idea of ambition, that I could be something in particular, rather than just myself in general.”

All this time, however, he couldn’t stop thinking about George. This one person, with one moment taking up an unfair amount of importance to Orlando, trying to find meaning where none existed.

Rating: 7-8-7-7 Total= 29

#387 Allegiance- Aryn Kyle

#387 Allegiance- Aryn Kyle

Glynnis is new to her school and new to America. She and her mother just moved here with her American Father. She is confused at the differences in the classroom and baffled at the cut-throat social structure among the students.

Meanwhile at home, her mother is miserable and negative and trying to get her daughter on her side. Glynnis’ instincts at first are to be good and do the right thing, even if it leads her to be unpopular, but she follows her mother’s advice and stories falls into the same cut-throat activities gain the acceptance of her peers.

School kids can be cruel and insecurities from our childhood can sometimes last a lifetime.

Rating: 7-6-7-7 Total= 27

#220 The Red Ant House- Ann Cummins

#220 The Red Ant House- Ann Cummins

I don’t know if I’m just reading too many short stories, or if I didn’t connect with this author, but this one didn’t do much for me. It’s a peek-into-a-life type of story, but nothing much happens. I don’t see any meaning or plot point worthy of mention.

The scene about the children counting the bean jar at the birthday party I found somewhat touching. It’s almost as if the author had that memory and built a story around that moment—which is common for authors to do—but then found that was the only fresh ingredient in the cupboard.

Perhaps, the opposite is true, perhaps there was too much to say, and this should be developed into a longer piece, with this as the opening salvo. I also felt a bit of a disconnect, as I often do when a story is written in the voice of a child. Too often adult judgment slips into that voice and it rings hollow. I’m not sure, juts something didn’t work for me.

The good thing about short stories, when you don’t care for one, another is right there waiting.

Rating: 7-6-5-3 Total= 21