The Author's
Place
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Stranded by Kimberly Raiser
It takes only a few short
stories to be captivated and drawn in by the impressive range and styles
of Kimberly Raiser´s anthology of writings that are crafted in a variety
of venues which are included in her first short story collection,
Stranded: Stories From The Edge of Infinity…
As mentioned in the Author´s Note, some of these twenty-one stories are short "Flash" pieces, some are longer wherein they border on the sillier side of humanity and others thought provoking. Their topics range from science fiction, speculative fiction, horror, and some children´s tales. Individually, all have previously appeared in various online sites and print publications and now have been recycled in Stranded: Stories From The Edge of Infinity… The language of these playful, highly evocative, sometimes quirky stories is to the point and quite original. What I found exciting about some of these stories is that although at first they seem to be meaningless or frivolous, the more I re-read them the more I was able to relate to them and be drawn in by their vibrant portraits and philosophical musings. For example, It Comes In Your Sleep the story about the little boy who fought sleep brought back my own memories of my daughter and now my grandson, particularly the last two lines: "Looks like he finally gave in sweetie. Yeah thank goodness, we can all get some sleep now." Other stories showed a great deal of wisdom as One Minute where Raiser begins with "What would happen if I delayed every deliberate action by exactly one minute? How much of a difference would it make?" In addition, Raiser has effectively mastered the short story form as well as two of its essential elements with her meticulous concentration on language and imagery. Her wit and soul-searching reflections are in fine form throughout the stories and while she may be quite comical at times, she steers away from slapstick. This is particularly in evidence with the story of A Little Town Called Plink where she is hilarious when dealing with the topic of flatulence. This is likewise apparent with The Machine Of Humanity that is summed up in the introduction to the story with the insightful words "What are we but the sum of our memories? Is there truly anything more than this?" Another gem and one that shows a great deal of introspection concerning our environment is Man Upon A Rock where Raiser introduces the story with "A man sits quietly alone contemplating the universe. He has a funny commentary beneath him." Stranded: Stories From The Edge of Infinity… is a noteworthy collection of sometimes punchy, off kilter short stories and a downright enthralling read that will provide hours of reading pleasures. And as with most short story collections, the advantage it has over a novel is that if you don´t like one story you can always flip to another. With that in mind, Raiser provides her readers with a great smorgasbord of tales that will satisfy most everyone´s tastes.
http://Bookpleasures.com & http://SketchAndTravel.com Norm Goldman |