Short story collections are always fun to review as these contain so much personality compared to novels. Many authors make their start with a short story collection, and Bradley Sides is no different. Sides’s collection is whimsical and contains many magical realism tales. For example, one story in the collection, called “Nancy R. Melson’s State ELA Exam, Section 1: The Dead-Dead Monster”, is presented as a written exam, like the essay section of a traditional standardized test, yet it tells the story of a real-life encounter with the “Dead-Dead Monster.”
I write the following in the review: “From every angle, Sides works to keep us on our toes, taking traditional narrative elements and adding an unexpected, supernatural twist. Shooting stars falling to the ground are relatively normal, but Sides’ shooting stars reignite themselves on Earth and launch back into space (“Raising Again”). A man murdering his wife and children, while unfortunate, is no surprise, but the same man claiming his family was not murdered but transformed into moths is unexpected (“The Browne Transcript”). Throughout most every story here, however, is a thread of hope — hope that Detective Murphy will understand that Jonathan Browne did not murder his family, hope that falling stars can rise again, and hope that people will learn not to trust or revere the Dead-Dead Monster. Many of the worlds in Crocodile Tears are depressing, yet many of the characters maintain an almost aggressively positive will to live.”
Keep reading the full review from Chapter 16‘s website below!
Haven’t yet ordered your copy of Palm Up, Fingers Curled? Don’t worry. You can still buy a copy through Abby’s Pango Books shop at the link here: https://pangobooks.com/books/ed57d9f3-2f63-446b-97a5-d81162f8e06f-0iTlsCuu13QcPx6jU8OQlr7FrPh1
Abby N. Lewis 
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