Legacy (and other short fiction)
by monica
s. kuebler
Burning Effigy Press & Productions, 1999.
Reviewed by Michael Bryson
Legacy (and other short fiction), the first publication from
Burning Effigy Press & Productions, is a slim spiral bound collection
of five gritty contemporary stories. There is some strong, if somewhat
monotonous, stuff here.
The stories mostly explore the interior character of young people
searching for meaning in a high stress world. They are first-person dramatic
monologues that reveal layer by layer the complexity of the narrator.
While they are very good at what they do, a reader might like to see some
more variety. Like a piece from the parents' point of view, maybe. Something
like that would add contrast and more power to the collection as a whole.
The stories are direct and simply told, with a rhetorical style of
apparent simplicity which masks deeper issues. They don't get caught in
too many complicated metaphors, though there are some (like "the shard-littered
bitter violent highway of their dysfunction" in "closet monsters...")
which border on the unintentionally comical. The narrators sometimes risk
becoming parodies of angst, and would benefit from a little more self-awareness
of their fictional nature. That is, the writing would benefit from the
odd self-aware wink that it is echoing the work of other writers.
A fine daring little collection which promises hopeful things for
the future.
Legacy
(and other short fiction) can be ordered from Burning Effigy Press &
Productions.
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