In his 3rd collection of short fiction, Louis Phillips, a widely read author of fiction, poetry, drama, and children's stories, takes his readers into numerous strange worlds. From the opening story, "Errata," which lists dozens of strange "mistakes" with a previously published story, to the final piece, "Lee Harvey Oswald's Can Opener," a reader soon discovers oneself visiting an unpredictable consciousness. Phillips, who teaches Introduction to Poetry and The History of Hell at the School of Visual Arts, creates stories which lead the reader to scratch ask what in the world is going on? These are the kinds of questions asked of Kafka, Borges, Barthelme, and Barth as well as so many other authors of poetic realism, the unusual, and yes, the absurd. As for humor, well, there is plenty of that, too.
What is the theme connecting these stories? Madness, perhaps, but not only the madness of single characters. Madness as well of entire communities, the "madness of crowds." Read these stories, and be prepared to confront new realities, some of which you may never entirely escape.
