Strange Encounters: Short Stories, Somerville Kristine, Morgan Speer

Fiction. The odd, illuminating moment that arises from a strange encounter is a trope in short fiction that seldom gets shopworn. Unlikely collisions both in terms of plot and character give energy and illumination to the fifteen stories collected in STANGE ENCOUNTER: SHORT STORIES. These stories are unique in their abilities to shine a light on the strange, odd, and fantastic until we are left thinking, Isnt life extraordinary? Eleanor Lermans Persistent Views of the Unknown opens the collection with a story of paranormal encounter. The Dead Writers Reading Series by Nathan Oates throws us into a world where long-dead authors show-up to read their work. Tooth by Tsung-yan Kwong tells the tale of i, or Tooth, an urban legend of North Korean prison camps who used ventriloquism and contortionism to spook gulag warders and give hope to prisoners. More grounded in reality but nevertheless fantastic is Peter Gordons Elizabeth, the story of a modest wedding in a Boston hotel and the young newlyweds chance encounter with Elizabeth Taylor. Bradley Bazzles Relatable Influence gives us a behind-the-scenes look at a mom blogger whose editor asks her to work with a famous but unusual photographer to enhance her image and advance her work to a higher level of social influence. The collections concluding piece Singapore by Lisa Taddeo is a chilling account of a young mother and her toddler daughter who are abducted knife-point by a man who intends to rape and kill them both. Singapore --and all of the fifteen stories collected here --speak to the strangeness and unpredictability of life.