Dead AnimalsCS DeWildt. Martian Lit, $9.99 paperback (132p) ISBN: 978-0615867014
Dead
Animals is short story collection by CS DeWildt. DeWildt's name has popped
up in a lot of solid online publications such as Flash Fiction Offensive,
Shotgun Honey, and Word Riot. Plus, he has a novella out called Candy
and Cigarettes.
“Bull”
is a solid start to the collection. It's a violent yet tender piece of neo-noir
revolving around a young boxer and his overbearing father.
In
“Shakespearean Variety” a teacher gives into his urges to fuck one of his
students and DeWildt once again touches on the running them of animals in the
book. His sexual urge is compared to a dog as well as the girl he's having sex
with. I do wish there was more of an actual resolution.
“Love
Among Apes” centers on a man who believes he has bugs inside his skin and tries
his best to find someone who believes him. At chance encounter at the zoo, he
brushes with potential love and more so a belief in his affliction, but it's
short lived. A nice piece about the fleeting nature of love and apes and bugs.
“A
Favor Returned” is one of my favorite stories. It's winter and the snow's
coming down hard. A man accidentally drives into a ditch and gets stuck. He
finds an old man to help him, but the cost is something much more than he can
ever imagine. The ending sent chills up my spine.
“Human
Zoo” takes the idea of closing off the borders to the extreme. In the near
future huge walls are built and humans who have committed the most audacious crimes
are sent to human zoos where they are put on display. The other interesting
thing about the story is how exposed the narrator feels around his girlfriend.
“The
Yard Sale” explores a recent separation between a husband and his wife. The
narrator has a new girlfriend and the wife has a new boy toy as well. However,
there's much more going on in-between the lines. Longing for new addictions,
missing old ones.
“Tu
Chicken” is a poignant story about a boy's father who reminisces on all of his
murders building up to his haunting murder during Vietnam.
“The
Tree House” was a little too over the top for me. Marcus suddenly starts
murdering all of his friends because he becomes the blunt end of a joke.
“Dog
Don't Know Jesus” is definitely a standout. It's about a young boy who goes off
into the desert searching a coyote that killed his dog. The prose is tight and
the imagery is vivid. I might have to go back and re-read this one.
“Even
a Face Can Have a Canvas” is about what distinguishes us from the animals, but
at the end of the story the artist shows us just how animalistic we can become.
“Pulp”
is one of the more poetic micro flash fictions of the bunch. A lot of
contrasting imagery. Double meanings and such. Meat, pulp, and flesh all seem
to mesh seamlessly in this story of a teenager (possibly) who is scared and
intrigued by a female classmate who takes on the traits of a man-eater/carnivore
type of girl.
“Know
Your Enemy” is only one paragraph long but the narrator gives you some advice
on how to know if your enemy is really a fighter or bluffing. Nice, smooth
prose here.
“She
and Him” was a funny story. It starts off with a girl pursuing a man she had a
crush on high school but the twist at the end really brings it home.
“The
Night I Dug Up Raymond Carver” is the second to last story in the collection
and definitely one of my favorites. It's a continuation of one of the earlier
stories, but something completely new and weird. It's involves the zombie of
Raymond Carver, a strip club, and the desert. The whole story is lovely.
DeWildt
has delivered a dark collection of poignant rural noir with echoes of Hemingway
and Carver. I truly hope DeWildt is working on a novel because I would love to
read some more grittiness. (August 2013)
Purchase Dead Animals HERE.
Reviewer bio: Grant Wamack is a
weird fiction writer, rapper, traditional artist and book slinger. He has had
more than 30 short stories published in various publications and is the author
of Notes from the Guts of a Hippo as well as the forthcoming
novella A Lightbulb's Lament. He currently lives in Spain, but you
can find him roving the world as a ghostly apparition. Check out his blog http://www.grantwamack.wordpress.com
