Where the Dog Star Never Glows by Tara L. Masih is available on Kindle for just $4.74.
Description:
In this 17-story collection, writer and editor Masih (The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction) examines characters balanced precariously on the edge of contentment and disillusionment. Delicate, sparse prose contributes to the heavy-heartedness of such stories as "Say Bridgitte, Please," in which sadness overtakes ecstasy during a teenage girl's sexual encounter with a stranger; and "Asylum," as a daughter agonizes over her mother's encroaching madness, and what it means for her own fate. Masih's first-person narratives are the most riveting, whether assuming the voice of a young girl witnessing her parents' marriage crumble from the backseat of a 1963 Thunderbird ("Sunday Drives"), or an aging father grieving the death of his friend's adult daughter in the light of a late-winter bonfire ("The Burnings"). Compiled from two decades of work, Masih's stories are minimally but skillfully detailed-no last names, vague settings-giving extra weight to simple, recurring phenomena like water and color ("the evening's August melon light"). Striking and resonant, this collection should prove memorable for any fan of New Yorker-style literary short fiction.
From the Reviewers:
" . . . Masih has done what so many other writers spend a lifetime attempting: she’s grown so comfortable with words . . . that she can breathe life into the fictional worlds of her imagination with the greatest of ease. At least, that’s how it feels from the outside. Like the best of artisans, she makes her job look easy. . . . Where the Dog Star Never Glows is an amazing collection of short fiction that introduces Tara L. Masih as a true artist of the short story whose way with words is matched only by her intuitive grasp of all that makes us human. Needless to say, I can’t wait to see what this author does next."
--Small Press Reviews
"Tara L. Masih's debut collection of short stories is as varied as the characters she writes--encompassing a wide range of locations and styles, Masih showcases the breadth of her talent in this slim but powerful volume. . . . [I]t is hard to identify a weak link. Masih's ability to fully inhabit each character, and her strong sense of place and time, make each story a standout in its own way. Masih's especially vivid descriptions of landscape and setting allow the reader to become completely immersed in each of her tales, no matter how brief. This is an excellent collection that should appeal to many readers."
--Elizabeth Schulenburg, BookLoons Reviews
--Small Press Reviews
"Tara L. Masih's debut collection of short stories is as varied as the characters she writes--encompassing a wide range of locations and styles, Masih showcases the breadth of her talent in this slim but powerful volume. . . . [I]t is hard to identify a weak link. Masih's ability to fully inhabit each character, and her strong sense of place and time, make each story a standout in its own way. Masih's especially vivid descriptions of landscape and setting allow the reader to become completely immersed in each of her tales, no matter how brief. This is an excellent collection that should appeal to many readers."
--Elizabeth Schulenburg, BookLoons Reviews
About the Author:
Tara L. Masih grew up in the small harbor town of Northport, situated along the Long Island Sound. Much of her time was spent on the beaches and in the woods, and as a result her writing is often set within the framework of nature and place. Her fiction, poetry, and essays have been published in numerous literary magazines, and appear in the anthologies Brevity & Echo, Word of Mouth, Hacks, Aunties, For She Is the Tree of Life, Only the Sea Keeps, In the Arms of Words, New to North America, and Essential Love. Several limited edition illustrated chapbooks featuring her flash fiction have been published by The Feral Press. Awards for her work include first place in The Ledge Magazine's fiction contest, a finalist fiction grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and Pushcart Prize, Best New American Voices, and Best of the Web nominations. She judges the intercultural essay prize for the annual Soul-Making Literary Contest, is editor of the acclaimed Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction (a 2009 ForeWord Book of the Year), and her story collection Where the Dog Star Never Glows was a National Best Books 2010 finalist. Her website is www.taramasih.com.
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