Comprising stories from three out-of-print collections (The News of the World
; Plan B for the Middle Class
; The Hotel Eden
), this hefty compilation showcases Carson's chatty, often playful narrative style and his fascination with the tricky nature of male-female relationships. Most of the stories are written in the first person, and Carlson is a master at confessional narrators: men—husbands, fathers and boyfriends—befuddled by, but enchanted with, the women in their lives. "There's a lot inside a man that never gets out," notes the sheriff-narrator of "Phenomena," but the men hold little back in these pages. In the unforgettable "Bigfoot Stole My Wife," a man tries to convince himself that his wife didn't mean to leave him, but was instead kidnapped by the hairy beast. In "Milk," one of this anthology's finest stories, a father who refuses to let his infant twin sons be fingerprinted, thinking it smacks of paranoia, realizes that, because of his overwhelming love for them, "now I am afraid of everything." Carlson's offbeat, frequently hopeful stories stand out amid the starker work of contemporaries like Richard Ford and Tobias Wolff. He doesn't ignore life's rougher spots, though: in "The Hotel Eden" a naïve young meteorologist, in love with his girlfriend and thrilled with his new, enigmatic buddy, is forced by an act of betrayal to reconsider his optimism and trust. For fans of short fiction, this will prove a treat. (Oct.)
Forecast:
While it's a bit daunting in size, this is a good volume to dip into now and then; blurbs from Stephen King and Antonya Nelson testify to Carlson's broad appeal and should help attract readers of both commercial and literary fiction.
