Some years back, when things like blogs and RSS readers first started popping up, I came across a blog called Sippican Cottage. Published by a guy who lived in Massachusetts (I didn’t hold that against him, but I did wonder at first), the blog had one of the most original voices I’d come across. It was personal and common-sense and gritty, and it spoke with the experience of someone who had seen and done a lot of things most of us don’t see and do in our rather sheltered middle-class lives.
In other words, it was a very real voice, without the self-consciousness that it was real; a confident voice, and without affectation.
The blog author, Greg Sullivan, also knew a lot about music (and there’s good reasons for that) and he made some pretty cool looking furniture. He’d also had some interesting experiences with the Massachusetts state health care system, but that’s another story.
I liked his writing, all of his writing. I still do. I saw that every so often he would post an old photo, like something from 50 or 70 or 100 years ago, and write a story about it. A good story. A story that hummed and transformed the photograph.
Now he’s taken 31 photos, all from the collection at the Library of Congress, written stories, and collected them as The Devil’s in the Cows. It’s subtitled “Flash Fiction by Sippican Cottage.” Ignore that. Yes, it qualifies for flash fiction, but it’s much more than that. It’s a collection of distinctive, very fine short stories, each a specific idea and narrative but collectively an assembly of voices that are part of our American history and culture, just like the photographs that illustrate them.
A young boy speaks with love and admiration of his older brother and the complex relationships each has with their father. A man takes his wife out to eat, knowing that the eyes of everyman in the restaurant are on her (the prompting photos for that story is one of the “fins” of a 1960s Cadillac). A sideshow barker beckons customers. A photo of a mother holding a baby becomes a meditation on present and future. A sidewalk wrapped in fog becomes a story of the ghosts that haunt all of us.
The amazing thing is how tightly, how concisely these stories are written. Not a word is wasted. Nothing is gratuitous. Each story is singular. And just like the stories I’ve seen on the blog, each story in the collection transforms its photograph (and one story has two).
The Devil’s in the Cows is one of the best short story collections I’ve read. Ever.
Related:
The Devil’s in the Cows is available at both Amazon and CreateSpace. (Sullivan’s wife told him to publish it. She was right. Wives usually are. I hope he's thanked her.)
Sullivan blogs at Sippican Cottage.
You can see the furniture Sullivan creates at Sippican Cottage Furniture.
And he also has a wonderful blog for boys and their fathers (but don’t tell the mothers): The Borderline Sociopath Blog for Boys.
Glynn, this sounds so intriguing! You always share the neatest places. I will have to check out The Devil's in the Cows ASAP.
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy when writers use art of any kind as prompts. Will check this out.
ReplyDeleteA talented guy (I peeked at his furniture).
hmmmMMMmmm!
ReplyDeletesounds interesting...
Hello Glynn- You're very generous with your praise and I'm grateful for it. Thanks to everyone who buys a copy.
ReplyDeleteOh boy. My summer bedtime pile keeps getting higher because of you! :)(Which means it's just the way I like it!)
ReplyDeleteWhat Nancy said is what I would've said had she not already said it.
ReplyDelete(that made me dizzy)
And flash fiction? I have some learnin' to do.
Blessings.
I love his blog!
ReplyDeleteThanks for bringin' this to my attention. I'll check it ALL out.
:)
THE DEVIL'S IN THE COWS , 37 flash fiction stories (under 1000 words) , is new territory for me. While I have read some flash fiction, this is the first book I've read dealing with only flash fiction. Sippican is a gifted writer but... There is always a but, his subject matter, to me, was mostly depresing. Perhaps that was intentional or perhaps Sippican's cup is half empty.
ReplyDeleteThe writing is quirkly but detailed and complete, which is not an easy task in 1000 words or less. He finds just the right word to express the most minute, but important, detail to make a story shine. Four stars for me, but perhaps I'm missing the boat here? Another plus, I loved the pictures that go along with the stories, some I understood and others didn't seem to fit. I have also written a few short stories using a prompt (a photo) and I love it.
Out of 37 stories I only enjoyed reading three. #3 Hope Street- Loved it! Comical and upbeat, philosophical and poetic. What more could you ask for in 200 or so words.
#36 One Quarter Rich- A young boy, while lying in bed, thinks about life, the importance of money and how and why people need it or spend it. In a flash he realizes savvy people make money work for them rather than being a slave to it. He asks his mom for four quarters and begins to make his money work for him... one quarter at a time. "I'll give you three quaters for that dollar bill?" he says to the gal standing at the meter, looking lost and confused.
#37 The Same River- A young lad notices the tiniest things, things that most people would either never see or ignore. And his life, he knows, is that much richer for it. Overall, a great read. Perhaps I'll try my hand at a few flash fiction stories, but I assure you mine will be upbeat.