Book Reviews: Awkward Two: Brevity

Awkward 2 – Brevity

Publisher; Jeffrey Dinsmore

A Collection of Short Stories of 1500 words or less
By 25 Authors – 33 Stories

This small volume of brief short stories smashes against any theory that short short stories are not great fiction. Awkward 2 – Brevity fills itself with short stories that run the gamut from crime to bald-faced imagination. Within only 104 pages, this volume is crammed with great short stories and fast-paced and compressed short story writing. They say that poetry remains the compression of thoughts into the smallest amount of words possible; in this manner, the authors of Brevity 2 present short stories that are small microcosms of reality – and unreality. Since I am a lover of fiction, I appreciated the pop-zang effect of creating an imaginary tableau in 1,500 words or less. Short stories have a beginning, middle and end, and to produce a powerful short story in this amount of words shows great intensity and talent.

Warning - Video contains adult language.

In the introduction, the publisher’s state: “Awkward is an anthology of imaginative fiction published semi-annually and featuring twenty-five stories organized around a single theme.” When I went to the Awkward Team’s website, www.awkwardpress.com, I found an intriguing website that is obviously publishing some of the leading edge writers of today. Instructions for submissions are noted on the website.

Some Favorites:

An Open Letter to Our Valued Clients – Heather Clitheroe
(I found this story cryptic, funny and so tongue in cheek, I was laughing by the first paragraph.

Grand Marshal – Clay McLeod Chapman
(A war hero lives out his internal fantasies as he comes home to a parade to honor his heroism – fantastic!)

Five Bits – Nadja Stokes
(Pure kitsch)

Cancun – Paul Kavanaugh
(Mesmerizing innuendos)

Promiscuity, A Retrospective – Jennifer Gravley
(Clean, spare writing)

I can’t begin to go over all the stories that I loved; I have to include the entire collection. This is a tense little volume packed with great writing. Give it a try! I think you will love it!

Awkward Two is available for purchase directly from their website.

Ratings are based on a 5-star scale

Overall:4

Review by Broad "A" - Ava

We received a copy of this title for our book review. All opinions are our own.