#858 There Isn’t Any Ghost- Lucas Southworth

#858 There Isn’t Any Ghost- Lucas Southworth

A child in a wheelchair and his parents are moving into their new home. It is an old house, run-down, and a little creepy. It is a haunted house of sorts, but we’re not sure exactly what it is haunted by. We know some tragedy occurred and the family has moved to get a new start. 

“I brought him to this place to find out if he’s done what he’s accused of doing, and I am determined to keep him here until he tells me or I can trick him into telling me.” 

The story is told by both the boy and the mother. As the house is being worked on by contractors (literally being rebuilt from the inside and then stripping the old one away like shedding skin), the mother tries to scare the boy and the boy tries to remember. The boy was accused of pushing a little girl down a well, nobody is sure if he did it. They are now living in this purgatory until their new house is ready.

Notable Passage: “A ghost is not inconsequential…It’s a history of the bad things we have done.”

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

#829 To Reinvigorate Our Communication Networks- Lucas Southworth

#829 To Reinvigorate Our Communication Networks- Lucas Southworth

We’ve all wanted to unplug at times. To throw off the weight of twenty-four hour access; to be far away from technology and communication devices. If we did, would it feel good, would we regret it? How long before we want it back…a day, a month, six years?

“If this message does reach you, I wonder if you will answer. And I…have begun to wonder: can such a transmission be enough to justify an action? Can something so simple as desire restore what we’ve already lost? Can it satisfy the longings of our crossed and tattered circuitries?”

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

#801 All This in a World Without Dragons- Lucas Southworth

#801 All This in a World Without Dragons- Lucas Southworth

This is an allegorical tale about allegorical story telling. This world is about fathers and sons and the passing of generations. Each boy must kill his father when he turns twenty. Killing a dragon slayer, makes you, yourself a dragon slayer. The dragons have long since been killed off, and with it, hope and discovery.

"We live in a world without dragons…it is a place where nothing is left to be discovered.”

A child becomes a man and kills off hope and discovery. He has lost the childish imagination where dragons exist. Unless a father (and a mother) decide early on to set their son on a different, riskier path.

“Find a dragon, he insisted, bring one back alive. If you do, everything might change. If you do, it might save us all.”

Rating: 8-10-9-9 Total= 36

#773 Under the World- Lucas Southworth

#773 Under the World- Lucas Southworth

“Some people believe the subway has the power to return to you what you’ve lost. Some believe it has the power to lose you.”

A man tries to get lost in the subway system. This system is a worldwide subway system, it’s a whole underground world unto itself. Or maybe it’s all just in this man’s mind. He passes through station after station, smelling the food, seeing the people. A man has seen him several times and accuses him of following him. He us lost in a different way. Everyone moves about searching, searching…and rarely fnding.

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

#745 Same Life, Different One- Lucas Southworth

#745 Same Life, Different One- Lucas Southworth

Written in an interesting meta style, this is a sort of commentary on a society lost to television. It’s just running descriptions of images and story clips as they go by on the screen. We see the couple, they could be and probably are any couple mindlessly watching as the crude, or the grotesque, or the inane get fed into their psyches. 

It’s not really a new idea, but its ok. 

Rating: 7-6-6-5 Total= 24

#717 Lincoln’s Face: A Resurrection- Lucas Southworth

#717 Lincoln’s Face: A Resurrection- Lucas Southworth

Denise is a world class makeup artist, a barrier breaking black woman in a tough industry. Her ex-lover, the man who helped break up her marriage, comes back into her life when he lands the role of a lifetime playing Abraham Lincoln is a new bio-pic. She is chosen to turn him into the 16^th president. As she spends weeks building this image, memories of her past linger, and thoughts about Lincoln makes her wonder what film can do to history:

“Makeup artists, cameras of directors, and brains and bodies of actors were always resurrecting the icons of human history. But when filtered through the subjectivity of so many living people, it was inevitable that the deceased’s life would be altered. Unlike scholars, who used sources and documents to back up their claims, a filmmaker could manipulate history on a whim. It led Denise to question how many of her beliefs were based upon the impulses of others.”

Some things shouldn’t be altered and some people don’t deserve second chances.

Notable Passage: “On the face of America…happiness makes no sense.”

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

#675 The Running Legs and Other Stories- Lucas Southworth

#675 The Running Legs and Other Stories- Lucas Southworth

This is like fable or a fairy tale skewed, and twisted into a nightmare. “You’ll see that this story works like a dirty mirror. Be sure to recognize yourself.”

A father comes home from work. He is an axe-man, scary and gruff, but not the devil. His two daughters and their stepmother are there when he gets home. The girls watch in horror as the father cuts the stepmother’s legs off with his axe. The legs run away and the girls follow.

What comes next is a series of connected stories, like a song cycle, trying to remember a dream. They are: The Running Legs, The Bubbling Kitchen, The Two Princesses, The Devil Father, The Beautiful Stepmother, The Spider-web Sidewalk, The Howling Mountain, The Man in the Car, The Very Tiny Door, The Tightening Hug, The Wailing Park, The Loving Witch, The Dying Legs, The Dirty Mirror.

“Do you know why I tell you these stories…They are good places to hide…In them, people do things because they are the only things to do. Nobody has time to think. Nobody has time to remember or be afraid.”

Rating: 8-10-9-8 Total= 35

#647 Everyone Here Has a Gun- Lucas Southworth

#647 Everyone Here Has a Gun- Lucas Southworth

This is the opening and title story to Lucas Southworth’s 2013 collection. The book won the Grace Paley Prize for short fiction.

This is a parable about guns. A pair, a man and a woman sit together in a room full of people, each with a gun. There will be shooting, and there will be defending from the shooting which of course means more shooting. I will be careful in assuming this story is anti-gun, because often, the same arguments made in opposition can be used in support.

 Lets just day, this is a scary place to be, and we should all do our best not to end up in this room.

Notable Passage: “In the confusion, we’ve all drawn our guns. I have mind aimed at you. You have yours aimed at me.”

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