I've just discovered this composer/cellist and I like his sound. He combines his classical training with an Indie style. I hope you enjoy him, too. This is Methods and The Masses by Tanekobu.
Mid-Century: An Anthology of Distinguished Contemporary American Short Stories by Orville PrescottMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
A collection of a largely unheard of group of authors from the middle of the last century. Some of them deserve to be revived, although good luck finding copies, since most of then are out of print. Most of them are written in a style that dates the story, but some have a sharp style that really draws the reader in and, in the case, of one pokes him in the eye.
I'll mention a couple:
The Day of the Last Rock Fight was written by Joseph Whitehill and I've had a time finding copies of his work. This story is told in the rare second person, with the narrator being an adolescent boy sent to a school for the emotionally disturbed. He has decided to confess what actually happened at a rock fight he was involved in at his former school where a classmate ended up dead. One finishes the story wondering if the narrator is reliable or bonkers.
The Cave by James Michener is a gripping story about a platoon of Navy soldiers and Marines during WWII who are hiding out in a cave on an island in the South Pacific theater. They are listening to a British man on the radio who is giving away the positions of the Japanese planes and battle ships. But who is he? And where is he that he is able to report so accurately the enemies plans and enemies? The story pulls you to the end, which does not spare the horror of war or the fate that can happen to even the bravest.
My favorite was from an author I had never heard of. Her name is Jessamyn West and she was apparently a prolific writer in her time and I was able to find some of her books on Amazon, eBay and even my local library.
The title of the story is A Little Collar for the Monkey. It is about a selfish, domineering woman who rules her life and the people around her with malicious glee. One reads with dread wondering what is going to happen to her victims, but the ending is not predictable.
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11 comments:
Thanks for sharing the Tanekobu. I like it too.
The stories sound good. Your comment about the writing style drew my attention. It is interesting how certain styles fall out of fashion. If the sharpness that you are referring to is what I am thinking of, it is something that I like.
The Cave sounds particularly intriguing.
The Cave by James Michener sounds good to me! I think I will try to find a copy. Have a great week, and thanks for the review!
i remember the name Jessamyn West as pretty popular, but i've never read anything by her... the others have faded into the mists of time, platitudinously speaking... i've been reading early Mysteries for a while now, and have been impressed about how many good writers there were in the early days that are now totally submerged in the mot(see above)... it's like finding gold in your back yard haha...
a parrot t-shirt! impressive!
Thank you for introducing me to Tanekobu.
Hello Brian! I thought the stories were good, of course, some better than others. The style does make make some of them feel dated, but as you said the ones that have a sharp method of communicating their ideas really hit you.
Hi AtW. I just looked up on Amazon and they have a lot of his novels. They also have a collection of short stories called Tales of the South Pacific, from which this story probably came.
Hi Mudpuddle, I don't know how good her other stories are, I will find out since I just ordered a collection of them. The short story in this collection was really very good.
I would like to find those early mystery writers. I'm always on the hunt for new stories from that time period.
Thanks for the complement. I have quite a few parrot t-shirts now.
It was published in 1958 so they weren't old when they were collected. It also has a story by Flannery O'Connor I forgot to mention: The River.
But I think you're right about collecting stories later, although reading them so many years later gives me an interesting perspective to that time period.
Hello Liberty Belle! I'm glad you enjoyed the music. Thank you for visiting my blog. I have gone and looked at your blog as well. Very nice. Have a great day.
Nice article as well as whole site.Thanks.
Hello, Clipping Path! Thanks for visiting. I hope you'll be a frequent visitor. Have a good day!
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