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December 10th, 2009
12:21 am - Review for "Interfictions 2: An Anthology of Interstitial Writing"
A collection of short stories is like a box of chocolates.
But we no longer live in the age when you can present a heart-shaped box of unwrapped, unlabeled confectionery to your sweetheart. They might be allergic to nuts. They could take a bite out of something and swell up like a balloon before the first kiss. These days, a box of chocolates comes with an ingredients label, and often a guidebook identifying the contents. We like to know what we’re eating and, in the case of chocolates, what shapes they might take. We don’t open ourselves to surprise.
The same can be true of reading. Slapping the genre onto a book jacket ceased to be a function of organization long ago. Whether it’s food or information, we like to know what we’re accepting into our bodies and minds before our first exposure. I work in a bookstore, and believe me: not everyone likes to experiment.
Collections of genre fiction are the labeled candies of the literary world. Bite into one and savor the familiarity of your favorite type of story. You knew the gist of what you’d taste when you bought it, because the theme of a collection is its ingredients label. Romance has spice. Fantasy has epic flavor. Science-fiction has nuts and bolts. We know what we like. That’s not to say you can’t be surprised by a particular collection and re-imagine your genre in a unique light, but you are working within a limitation.
The summary of Interfictions 2 claims that interstitial fiction “cross-pollinates” and “falls between the cracks.” To flog a dead chocolate, imagine if the Ghirardelli truck rammed into the Godiva train, scattering their contents to the point that no one could tell which chocolate “belonged” in which box. And despite the candies’ long hours spent lying among their alien neighbors, absorbing the odd slice of coconut or foreign sheen of butterscotch, both companies ultimately decided to risk boxing and selling them anyway.
Risk is at the heart of this collection.
It takes a measure of courage to bite into Interfictions 2. Finishing one story, you can make no assumptions about the next. You’re in a different ballpark, a different sport, and speaking a different language. The stories are narrated by sentient houses, or slowly unfolded by transcripts of government surveillance. They halt you mid-step and go sideways in time. They’re told in ways that defy your experience. Interfictions 2 covers topics you haven’t seen before (or often), because stories like these don’t cluster in noticeable groups. They scrape the rim of things. Every time I finished one, I had to put the book down and focus on the lingering aftertaste of something wholly unexpected.
It’s a book that demands active digestion. These stories leave a part of themselves behind because it takes courage and risk to make it through each one in the first place. You bite into a mystery with no assurance of your choice, vulnerable to the depth of the collection’s engagement.
Lick the last of each story off your teeth and try to pin down the flavor. You can’t, but it’s fun to try. That’s an essential reason why interstitial writing needs a voice: it’s a risk for everyone involved, it’s fun, and it won’t rot your teeth.
May contain nuts.
http://www.amazon.com/Interfictions-2-Anthology-Interstitial-Writing/dp/1931520615/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260432165&sr=8-1
http://www.interstitialarts.org/wordpress/
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Wow. You should write those little introduction things to books. If I ever read *this* on a book, I would pick it up in an instant. That was delightful to read, so I can't wait to read what inspired it! I love short story collections, and while I'm not free to read for fun until next week, this is at the new top of my list :) This is my favorite line:
They could take a bite out of something and swell up like a balloon before the first kiss.
AHAHAHAHAHA!
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