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apostrophen's review
4.0
One of the niftier things about the e-book publishing world is how I can pre-order something, forget about it completely, and then suddenly one day when I turn on my Kobo - there's a little alert that a new book is on my e-reader.
That happened today, with I Never Thought I'd See You Again, a Novelists Inc. Anthology. I nabbed this as a pre-order because my editor and friend Greg Herren has a story in it. I picked it up, and read the introduction, and was immediately charmed.
I love anthologies, as you've likely picked up on by now. And I love the idea behind this one - it's a singular prompt that is the title of the book: "I never thought I'd see you again."
I can't wait to see the various directions the writers take.
"36 Hours," by Allison Brennan
The first story in this collection is by a prolific author that I've not read before, but now have added to my "must read" list. Have I mentioned how many books this Short Story project of mine has added to my "must read list" yet? The story here has a simple start, but a pleasantly tangled execution: Angel is a fifteen year old in police custody, being transferred to juvie as a temporary safe place for her while she waits to testify in a murder case that deals with a local gang. Except something goes wrong from the start, bullets rain down, and now she's running for her life.
Enter Jake. Jake is a former marine, ex-cop, ex-con who is now making a living putting all those former skills to use as a bounty hunter. When he gets a call that Angel is on the run - and that the police think she is a cop-killer - he springs into action, trying to find and save her - because she's his daughter.
Their familial bonds are nearly nonexistent, the crime (and the truth behind the crime) is a snarled mess, and the end result is more danger than Angel is likely to survive. The tension mounts piece by piece, and the overall effect was of a pulse-racing thriller. I loved it.
"Facing the Mirror," by Dianne Despain
This is the second story in I Never Thought I'd See You Again and its placement is definitely enough to let the reader know that the range of tales within this collection - each prompted by the line that is the title of the collection - will be wide. The first tale was a thriller. The second tale is about a woman facing - or not facing - cancer.
I think the strength of this tale is in the verisimilitude. At no point did I have any trouble imagining myself in this place, or in the place of the character's husband, and all the reactions, frustrations, delusions, and angers were absolutely understandable and real. There's a rawness alongside the numbness of denial and confusion that is a perfect paradox for the situation. I've had family members fight and win and lose against cancer, and this story was as easy to put on as an old shirt that I loathed, but fit perfectly. It's a tricky balance to write something this cruelly honest, and the ultimate ending was a good mix.
"Solomon's Paradox," by Kelly McClymer
I'm going to say it again over and over when I discuss I Never Thought I'd See You Again but here it comes a third time: the range of stories is surprising (in a very good way). This third tale is speculative fiction based - a young man who drove and texted and ended up in an accident that killed the passenger (his good friend) is involved in a new "atonement" program where, instead of jail, his body is given to the victim for a year.
The story is told through the eyes of the mother of this dead son - who is temporarily not dead and abiding in the body of the young man responsible for the son's death. This is a year that is supposed to be about atonement - the guilty young man loses a year of his life and allows the other to "live" for that year in his place (and his body). The drugs involved suppress the mind of the body, leaving it mute and silent throughout this year.
What would you do? Would you live out this year fully with your "son" or would you plot some sort of revenge? Is a year enough? Is there actual atonement?
Is it possible to move on?
Brilliant little concept for a story, and the characters were vividly done.
"Play it Again, Sam," by Deb Stover
The next story in I Never Thought I'd See You Again is a short piece that gives a character from Stover's novel "A Willing Spirit" (which sounds kick-butt, by the way). This story involves cowboy lawmen, time-travel, a serial killer, angels, and a tough-as-nails FBI Agent.
The story stands alone and is quite fun and clever (as well as a bit of a thriller near the end). And yet I'm sure if (no, when) I read the novel, there'll be even more depth to it. Like I said, I do love tales that build on other narratives. And now yet again there's another book on my To-Be-Read pile.
"Christmas Eve at Alison's Diner," by Janet Tronstad
I'm the first to admit that I don't have much Christmas spirit left in me. After more than a dozen retail Christmases, it's hard to really find that particular feeling and get all warm and tingly. Especially in Ottawa, where the tingly you feel at Christmas is more of the "frostbite" kind than the warm hearth kind.
That said, the next story in I Never Thought I'd See You Again did indeed manage to snag on the frayed edge of my cold little yuletide heart and give me a smile and a rush of wellbeing. Set during the Great Depression, this is the story of a woman about to lose what little she has left - her diner - and a man who is trying to convince her it's time to leave and try again elsewhere. That she is trying to give this town (which is falling apart in the intense poverty of the era) one last Christmas - especially for the children.
Heartbreaking, sad, and an incredibly well drawn picture of a horrible time period, "Christmas Eve at Alison's Diner" is a lovely way to spark some Christmas spirit in even the cold dark heart of a retail clerk.
"Persephone's Granddaughter," by Alyssa Day
Another tale included in I Never Thought I'd See You Again, this one has the fun spark of the start of a larger story - that of a young woman, Penny, who has decided to run away from her mother (and what she perceives as her mother's terrible choice to move them to the middle-of-nowhere Ohio) and is instead about to learn that she's the descendent of a Greek goddess.
Oh, and she's also got a destined role to fulfill.
I was definitely left with the sense that these were characters of which I'd be seeing more. If anyone knows if these characters are a part of a YA or a paranormal romance series, fill me in.
"The Greek, the Dog, Sangri-La and Me," by Janet Woods
I really enjoyed this story - I have to say I'm so glad this book was pointed out to me, and it's definitely becoming a favorite in my collection of "loose theme" anthologies. Here we have a young man in a beach side home with an aging dog and a load of memories, thoughts, and tangled feelings about his home, those who raised (and didn't raise) him, and a vague sense of losses that don't quite break the tone of the story into maudlin, but definitely give you a sense that there is a sadness to him.
It's gently told, this story, and through the three characters and one sense of place listed in the title, we get a portrait of this man and his life so far. Even when the darkness of his youth is described, it's done with a kind of blurriness that leaves you feeling the same cocoon that seems to wrap around the character himself.
I don't want to ruin any of these stories, so I won't say more. I will say as far as atmosphere goes, the turns of phrase and texture of the language in this story really drew me right in. It really was a moving piece.
"A Streetcar Named Death," by Greg Herren
Sometimes a short story can sneak up and sucker-punch you. I did something I never do and I skipped the brief bio for Greg Herren's story because I know his writing so well, which meant I was blindsided by his story in I Never Thought I'd See You Again. The story is simple in premise - the reunion in this case is between the narrator and a man who just finished serving eight years in jail for a violent crime. The narrator remembers the man, of course - how can you forget someone who brought bloodshed into your life? - but the man who has now served his time and paid his debt to society doesn't remember the narrator.
Coincidence places them on the same streetcar. But it's the spiral of violence, blood, death, and vengeance that follows which fills this tale with a visceral and damned honest sense of reality.
I'm not sure I can have an unbiased opinion on this tale. Though it wasn't a streetcar, I once bumped into someone in the middle of a shopping mall with a similar scenario, and I can tell you all the thoughts that move through this narrator's head? They're right. I had zero trouble getting into the the head of this character, and finished this story with a deep unease about how I felt about it.
Definitely a powerfully done tale.
"The Tower," by Mary Hart Perry
The next story in I Never Thought I'd See You Again is all about unwelcome guests, as well as an unwelcome visit from the past. I loved the setting of this story - The Tower of London - and how Mary Hart Perry set about to put her characters in a time and place where the darker connotations of the Tower itself were a bit reversed: the woman telling the tale here, Maisie, has found security, home, and family through the Tower. She has a good life, and wishes to keep it.
Which is why a man from her past - a past her husband knows nothing about - is such a problem. Blackmailed into helping this larcenous "friend" from years ago, Maisie has some difficult decisions to make. She knows full well that she can't come clean to her husband, but she also knows that this dark piece of her history will not relent after one helping of blackmail. Her whole life is at stake.
And what wouldn't you do to keep your life as it is?
A clever story, with a lovely period flair.
"Fabian's Wake," by Laura Resnick
This was a fun and light story from I Never Thought I'd See You Again. Here, a daughter is attending her father's wake (I know, I know, fun and light, right?) and he pops up out of the casket to continue his litany of criticisms about her and her life choices.
Awkward.
Since Eileen is the only one who can see him, the rest of the family is somewhat bemused, and the poor woman is struggling to tell her dad to move on (like, really move on) while the others only hear her side of the conversation. By the way, the writer does a hysterical job here of melding that one-sided conversation against what her relatives can hear and what her father is saying. I had a good laugh a few times during this story.
It was a perfect little story for today.
"Katy's Place," by Barbara Meyers
This story was a well-balanced story that was dark - and hopeful - in parts. The set-up is this: Cassie, a woman who as a teen lost control of her car and had an accident that claimed the life of her best friend has just come face-to-face with the friend's mother, many years later. Is there forgiveness? Cassie isn't sure, but when her dead friend's mother asks for time to sit and talk to her, Cassie accepts. What follows is an eloquent - and at times, almost painful - recounting of Cassie's life as she tells the mother everything she has done to try and pay back a debt she knows full well she can never repay.
The story then gives the mother a chance to speak, and the ending - well. If you don't have a shiver up and down your spine, I think you may have missed a word or two. I Never Thought I'd See You Again continues to deliver.
"Backdraft," by Kathryn Shay
Forgiveness is a very, very hard thing in a family sometimes. When the thing you are asked to forgive a family member for is huge and caused true pain and suffering, it can be all the harder. I have to admit, when I read this story, the next in I Never Thought I'd See You Again, I found myself perfectly content to be as unforgiving as the main character, Riley. Riley, a firefighter whose father was a firefighter as well, has never forgiven his father for something truly atrocious the man did - and when his father returns to his life, it turns everything upside down.
I really, really struggled with how the rest of his family, and his girlfriend, were pushing him to forgive. In fact, the more they pushed, the more I - as the reader - sided with Riley. I think my own baggage is very firmly in a carry on position here, and I know that, but here's the thing: I'm maybe not so great a person that forgiveness is always possible for me. I'll make it to politeness, and I don't carry around a burning seething piece of hatred like Riley does in the story (and that's where I did understand his girlfriend and friends and family a bit - they were right to tell him to move past the anger). But actual forgiveness for some crimes is just not something I have in me.
This story definitely made me think.
"Because of You," by JoAnn A. Grote
Speaking of the past, this story is a lovely tale that is set in the mid-seventies when a woman is wheeled into an assisted living building and is wheeled beside a man. She's not happy to be there, and he tries to tell her a story of his past to make her feel better.
What follows is the story of the man who - during the rocky time between the Great War and the flu epidemic - began to fall victim to the dread disease. So often fatal, the quarantines and fear everyone felt often meant people were turned away, but this man was lucky enough to have a woman to help him through.
Touching and lovely, this story put a smile on my face.
"Skipper and I," by Ann La Farge
The characters in this next story from I Never Thought I'd See You Again would disagree about the whole technology thing, but that's fine. Here we meet Lucy, a woman who is recently separated, about to go to a conference, and talking to her mother about the one guy she really remembers being in love with.
Skipper. Who was her best friend when she was six.
The reverie of Skipper is interwoven with Lucy's feelings about her life since, and how her relationships have gone. But fate is about to offer her another shot, and La Farge puts together a satisfying answer to the question: if you could take a second chance, would you?
"The Only Girl in the World," by C.B. Pratt
The second-last story in I Never Thought I'd See You Again is Pratt's moving piece. Here we follow a fighter pilot through training while he thinks - nearly constantly - of a face he only half-remembers, and is a little worried might not exist. He's in love with a woman he's not entirely sure isn't just an image from a marketing campaign for soap or something, half-remembered from his childhood.
When his plane is hit, and things go south for the pilot, the story picks back up with a nurse caring for him, and the true extent of his injuries start to become clear as you follow this story to an ending that I really loved, and didn't see coming at all. It's sweet, but it's a kind and bittersweet sort of story. It's nicely placed in the collection, too, a gently sad (but hopeful) story right before the last tale in the collection.
"Tide Change," by Shirley Parenteau
This is the last tale in I Never Thought I'd See You Again, and I'd say it's the one that has the least literal interpretation of the title and prompt. Here we meet a woman who has given up on a lot of things in life, and who is back at the beach, where she finds rejuvenation.
A bottle bobbing in the water gives her a shot at meeting someone she never thought she'd see again. I won't ruin it, but I loved this ending to the collection, and thought it perfectly placed. It's a lovely story, and a great collection. I'll definitely be watching for more collections from Novelists Inc.
That happened today, with I Never Thought I'd See You Again, a Novelists Inc. Anthology. I nabbed this as a pre-order because my editor and friend Greg Herren has a story in it. I picked it up, and read the introduction, and was immediately charmed.
I love anthologies, as you've likely picked up on by now. And I love the idea behind this one - it's a singular prompt that is the title of the book: "I never thought I'd see you again."
I can't wait to see the various directions the writers take.
"36 Hours," by Allison Brennan
The first story in this collection is by a prolific author that I've not read before, but now have added to my "must read" list. Have I mentioned how many books this Short Story project of mine has added to my "must read list" yet? The story here has a simple start, but a pleasantly tangled execution: Angel is a fifteen year old in police custody, being transferred to juvie as a temporary safe place for her while she waits to testify in a murder case that deals with a local gang. Except something goes wrong from the start, bullets rain down, and now she's running for her life.
Enter Jake. Jake is a former marine, ex-cop, ex-con who is now making a living putting all those former skills to use as a bounty hunter. When he gets a call that Angel is on the run - and that the police think she is a cop-killer - he springs into action, trying to find and save her - because she's his daughter.
Their familial bonds are nearly nonexistent, the crime (and the truth behind the crime) is a snarled mess, and the end result is more danger than Angel is likely to survive. The tension mounts piece by piece, and the overall effect was of a pulse-racing thriller. I loved it.
"Facing the Mirror," by Dianne Despain
This is the second story in I Never Thought I'd See You Again and its placement is definitely enough to let the reader know that the range of tales within this collection - each prompted by the line that is the title of the collection - will be wide. The first tale was a thriller. The second tale is about a woman facing - or not facing - cancer.
I think the strength of this tale is in the verisimilitude. At no point did I have any trouble imagining myself in this place, or in the place of the character's husband, and all the reactions, frustrations, delusions, and angers were absolutely understandable and real. There's a rawness alongside the numbness of denial and confusion that is a perfect paradox for the situation. I've had family members fight and win and lose against cancer, and this story was as easy to put on as an old shirt that I loathed, but fit perfectly. It's a tricky balance to write something this cruelly honest, and the ultimate ending was a good mix.
"Solomon's Paradox," by Kelly McClymer
I'm going to say it again over and over when I discuss I Never Thought I'd See You Again but here it comes a third time: the range of stories is surprising (in a very good way). This third tale is speculative fiction based - a young man who drove and texted and ended up in an accident that killed the passenger (his good friend) is involved in a new "atonement" program where, instead of jail, his body is given to the victim for a year.
The story is told through the eyes of the mother of this dead son - who is temporarily not dead and abiding in the body of the young man responsible for the son's death. This is a year that is supposed to be about atonement - the guilty young man loses a year of his life and allows the other to "live" for that year in his place (and his body). The drugs involved suppress the mind of the body, leaving it mute and silent throughout this year.
What would you do? Would you live out this year fully with your "son" or would you plot some sort of revenge? Is a year enough? Is there actual atonement?
Is it possible to move on?
Brilliant little concept for a story, and the characters were vividly done.
"Play it Again, Sam," by Deb Stover
The next story in I Never Thought I'd See You Again is a short piece that gives a character from Stover's novel "A Willing Spirit" (which sounds kick-butt, by the way). This story involves cowboy lawmen, time-travel, a serial killer, angels, and a tough-as-nails FBI Agent.
The story stands alone and is quite fun and clever (as well as a bit of a thriller near the end). And yet I'm sure if (no, when) I read the novel, there'll be even more depth to it. Like I said, I do love tales that build on other narratives. And now yet again there's another book on my To-Be-Read pile.
"Christmas Eve at Alison's Diner," by Janet Tronstad
I'm the first to admit that I don't have much Christmas spirit left in me. After more than a dozen retail Christmases, it's hard to really find that particular feeling and get all warm and tingly. Especially in Ottawa, where the tingly you feel at Christmas is more of the "frostbite" kind than the warm hearth kind.
That said, the next story in I Never Thought I'd See You Again did indeed manage to snag on the frayed edge of my cold little yuletide heart and give me a smile and a rush of wellbeing. Set during the Great Depression, this is the story of a woman about to lose what little she has left - her diner - and a man who is trying to convince her it's time to leave and try again elsewhere. That she is trying to give this town (which is falling apart in the intense poverty of the era) one last Christmas - especially for the children.
Heartbreaking, sad, and an incredibly well drawn picture of a horrible time period, "Christmas Eve at Alison's Diner" is a lovely way to spark some Christmas spirit in even the cold dark heart of a retail clerk.
"Persephone's Granddaughter," by Alyssa Day
Another tale included in I Never Thought I'd See You Again, this one has the fun spark of the start of a larger story - that of a young woman, Penny, who has decided to run away from her mother (and what she perceives as her mother's terrible choice to move them to the middle-of-nowhere Ohio) and is instead about to learn that she's the descendent of a Greek goddess.
Oh, and she's also got a destined role to fulfill.
I was definitely left with the sense that these were characters of which I'd be seeing more. If anyone knows if these characters are a part of a YA or a paranormal romance series, fill me in.
"The Greek, the Dog, Sangri-La and Me," by Janet Woods
I really enjoyed this story - I have to say I'm so glad this book was pointed out to me, and it's definitely becoming a favorite in my collection of "loose theme" anthologies. Here we have a young man in a beach side home with an aging dog and a load of memories, thoughts, and tangled feelings about his home, those who raised (and didn't raise) him, and a vague sense of losses that don't quite break the tone of the story into maudlin, but definitely give you a sense that there is a sadness to him.
It's gently told, this story, and through the three characters and one sense of place listed in the title, we get a portrait of this man and his life so far. Even when the darkness of his youth is described, it's done with a kind of blurriness that leaves you feeling the same cocoon that seems to wrap around the character himself.
I don't want to ruin any of these stories, so I won't say more. I will say as far as atmosphere goes, the turns of phrase and texture of the language in this story really drew me right in. It really was a moving piece.
"A Streetcar Named Death," by Greg Herren
Sometimes a short story can sneak up and sucker-punch you. I did something I never do and I skipped the brief bio for Greg Herren's story because I know his writing so well, which meant I was blindsided by his story in I Never Thought I'd See You Again. The story is simple in premise - the reunion in this case is between the narrator and a man who just finished serving eight years in jail for a violent crime. The narrator remembers the man, of course - how can you forget someone who brought bloodshed into your life? - but the man who has now served his time and paid his debt to society doesn't remember the narrator.
Coincidence places them on the same streetcar. But it's the spiral of violence, blood, death, and vengeance that follows which fills this tale with a visceral and damned honest sense of reality.
I'm not sure I can have an unbiased opinion on this tale. Though it wasn't a streetcar, I once bumped into someone in the middle of a shopping mall with a similar scenario, and I can tell you all the thoughts that move through this narrator's head? They're right. I had zero trouble getting into the the head of this character, and finished this story with a deep unease about how I felt about it.
Definitely a powerfully done tale.
"The Tower," by Mary Hart Perry
The next story in I Never Thought I'd See You Again is all about unwelcome guests, as well as an unwelcome visit from the past. I loved the setting of this story - The Tower of London - and how Mary Hart Perry set about to put her characters in a time and place where the darker connotations of the Tower itself were a bit reversed: the woman telling the tale here, Maisie, has found security, home, and family through the Tower. She has a good life, and wishes to keep it.
Which is why a man from her past - a past her husband knows nothing about - is such a problem. Blackmailed into helping this larcenous "friend" from years ago, Maisie has some difficult decisions to make. She knows full well that she can't come clean to her husband, but she also knows that this dark piece of her history will not relent after one helping of blackmail. Her whole life is at stake.
And what wouldn't you do to keep your life as it is?
A clever story, with a lovely period flair.
"Fabian's Wake," by Laura Resnick
This was a fun and light story from I Never Thought I'd See You Again. Here, a daughter is attending her father's wake (I know, I know, fun and light, right?) and he pops up out of the casket to continue his litany of criticisms about her and her life choices.
Awkward.
Since Eileen is the only one who can see him, the rest of the family is somewhat bemused, and the poor woman is struggling to tell her dad to move on (like, really move on) while the others only hear her side of the conversation. By the way, the writer does a hysterical job here of melding that one-sided conversation against what her relatives can hear and what her father is saying. I had a good laugh a few times during this story.
It was a perfect little story for today.
"Katy's Place," by Barbara Meyers
This story was a well-balanced story that was dark - and hopeful - in parts. The set-up is this: Cassie, a woman who as a teen lost control of her car and had an accident that claimed the life of her best friend has just come face-to-face with the friend's mother, many years later. Is there forgiveness? Cassie isn't sure, but when her dead friend's mother asks for time to sit and talk to her, Cassie accepts. What follows is an eloquent - and at times, almost painful - recounting of Cassie's life as she tells the mother everything she has done to try and pay back a debt she knows full well she can never repay.
The story then gives the mother a chance to speak, and the ending - well. If you don't have a shiver up and down your spine, I think you may have missed a word or two. I Never Thought I'd See You Again continues to deliver.
"Backdraft," by Kathryn Shay
Forgiveness is a very, very hard thing in a family sometimes. When the thing you are asked to forgive a family member for is huge and caused true pain and suffering, it can be all the harder. I have to admit, when I read this story, the next in I Never Thought I'd See You Again, I found myself perfectly content to be as unforgiving as the main character, Riley. Riley, a firefighter whose father was a firefighter as well, has never forgiven his father for something truly atrocious the man did - and when his father returns to his life, it turns everything upside down.
I really, really struggled with how the rest of his family, and his girlfriend, were pushing him to forgive. In fact, the more they pushed, the more I - as the reader - sided with Riley. I think my own baggage is very firmly in a carry on position here, and I know that, but here's the thing: I'm maybe not so great a person that forgiveness is always possible for me. I'll make it to politeness, and I don't carry around a burning seething piece of hatred like Riley does in the story (and that's where I did understand his girlfriend and friends and family a bit - they were right to tell him to move past the anger). But actual forgiveness for some crimes is just not something I have in me.
This story definitely made me think.
"Because of You," by JoAnn A. Grote
Speaking of the past, this story is a lovely tale that is set in the mid-seventies when a woman is wheeled into an assisted living building and is wheeled beside a man. She's not happy to be there, and he tries to tell her a story of his past to make her feel better.
What follows is the story of the man who - during the rocky time between the Great War and the flu epidemic - began to fall victim to the dread disease. So often fatal, the quarantines and fear everyone felt often meant people were turned away, but this man was lucky enough to have a woman to help him through.
Touching and lovely, this story put a smile on my face.
"Skipper and I," by Ann La Farge
The characters in this next story from I Never Thought I'd See You Again would disagree about the whole technology thing, but that's fine. Here we meet Lucy, a woman who is recently separated, about to go to a conference, and talking to her mother about the one guy she really remembers being in love with.
Skipper. Who was her best friend when she was six.
The reverie of Skipper is interwoven with Lucy's feelings about her life since, and how her relationships have gone. But fate is about to offer her another shot, and La Farge puts together a satisfying answer to the question: if you could take a second chance, would you?
"The Only Girl in the World," by C.B. Pratt
The second-last story in I Never Thought I'd See You Again is Pratt's moving piece. Here we follow a fighter pilot through training while he thinks - nearly constantly - of a face he only half-remembers, and is a little worried might not exist. He's in love with a woman he's not entirely sure isn't just an image from a marketing campaign for soap or something, half-remembered from his childhood.
When his plane is hit, and things go south for the pilot, the story picks back up with a nurse caring for him, and the true extent of his injuries start to become clear as you follow this story to an ending that I really loved, and didn't see coming at all. It's sweet, but it's a kind and bittersweet sort of story. It's nicely placed in the collection, too, a gently sad (but hopeful) story right before the last tale in the collection.
"Tide Change," by Shirley Parenteau
This is the last tale in I Never Thought I'd See You Again, and I'd say it's the one that has the least literal interpretation of the title and prompt. Here we meet a woman who has given up on a lot of things in life, and who is back at the beach, where she finds rejuvenation.
A bottle bobbing in the water gives her a shot at meeting someone she never thought she'd see again. I won't ruin it, but I loved this ending to the collection, and thought it perfectly placed. It's a lovely story, and a great collection. I'll definitely be watching for more collections from Novelists Inc.
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