REVIEW
An e-copy of the book has been provided by the author, Jeremy Ray, in exchange for an honest review.
I had the wonderful opportunity to be introduced to Jeremy Ray’s work [The Houseplant] last year and he instantly had an electrifying connection with me that I knew he’s become one of my go-to authors.
Anthologies are not my strongest medium when it comes to reading as they leave me perplexed with how I will go about in reading them. I am sandwiched in between reading a story a day, multiple stories, or should I just read them all in one sitting (which I rarely do now).
“The steps are marble, but her creaking bones make them sound like wood.”
What I discovered, for myself, as the best method of reading the medium was to read a story and write a short note on what I thought about it — and yes, Jeremy was bombarded with my thoughts on his flash fictions (I’m sorry!). It was effective, though, in extrapolating what major theme the collection was.
Jeremy is brilliant in weaving words, if I close my eyes, I might think he’s a spider constantly threading works and always coming out with fantastic results.
Despite the stories (flash fictions) being 100 words or less, they aptly showcased the writer’s capacity in telling a story — although, if I am being honest, I might have to revisit some of them since I didn’t fully comprehend the story and/or message they were trying to convey.
Most of the stories contained within this collection are dark, bleak moments in life or grim magical tales that, in hindsight, are tragically beautiful.
“Apexman has become an amusement ride. All superheroes have. Solving problems for weak humans, unwilling to solve their own.”
An interesting characteristic of these stories, too, is that despite the author’s clear trajectory (or not) for them, they are all open for interpretation. It is just spellbinding. The abrupt nature of the flash fictions gave the reader’s mind the ability to work their own theory, all the possible circumstances for the story, and inject their own imagination in collaboration with the already finished word.
It is entrancing to read this collection knowing despite their short word count, you are still left pondering all the universe of possibilities for every fiction. Heck, even with those of concluded endings, it still felt that Jeremy gave us permission to work our own [un]desirable little outcomes and play with our own plausible endings.
As I read more and more of Jeremy’s work, I am led to an infinite door of potentials. His willingness to jump genres and playfulness to create pieces in collaboration with his readership creates a strong intimacy that nothing can ever ruin. I can see, now, why I loved him from the moment I read his first published work.
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My favourites from this collection are:
• Story 64. Two Men On A Bridge;
• Story 68. As If You Never Existed;
• Story 70. The Promise;
• Story 87. The Dead Girl in the Lake;
• Story 93. A Long Way Down;
• Story 95. An Artist’s Life;
• Story 103. For The Love Of Nature; and,
• Story 106. Dragon Sacrifice.
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