Bryan Hurt

These stories - just vignettes, some of them - are chips of opal, multicolored and multifaceted, and you will find yourself carrying them around in your pockets for some time, or maybe noticing them glinting in nooks as you go about your life. Hurt's prose is deadpan - some of the writing is more like standup than prose - but also fantastical, coming at the emotions from unexpected angles and with sudden and delightful changes of direction. The central and longest piece, "Vicissitudes, CA", is a particular joy, while "Good With Words" and "Panic Attack" punch out of all proportion to their weight. I've a feeling that what Bryan Hurt does is extremely hard to do, which is why no-one else is doing it.… (mer)

Aunque como es lógico ha habido unos cuantos relatos que no me han convencido, se trata de una antología muy variada a pesar del tema común y que tiene varios cuentos estupendos, que hacen que realmente merezca la pena leerla. Mis favoritos: los de Juan Pablo Villalobos y Aimee Bender, pero menciones especiales también para Etgar Keret, Charles Yu, David Abrams, T. Coraghessan Boyle y unos cuantos más. Y la mezcla de autores de literatura generalista y de género también me ha parecido muy enriquecedora y afortunada.… (mer)