Review: The short story is still very much alive
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 26, 2012
I love short stories, so when the author, Matthew Iden, asked me to review Three the Hard Way, I accepted. It's a fine collection of three enjoyable, original stories.In "The Wrong Job," the two guys planning a bank heist were such bozos that you just knew things were going get fouled up. When the poo hit the fan, two of the bank's customers suddenly had a big decision to make, with no time to think. How would you have reacted?"Dead Letter" was written in the now-seldom-seen epistolary style, where the story was told through a series of letters. You don't see epistolaries very often nowadays, but there have been a few recent hits ("The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" and "Learn Me Good"). It's not an easy style for an author, but Matthew Iden appears to have mastered it. It was a good story with the perfect ending."An Appalachian Love Story" was my favorite of the three stories. For the first time in 27 years of marriage, Buddy told Ayla that he loved her. Why would he suddenly do that? Ayla's active imagination went into overdrive, and the answer that came out of it wasn't good at all. She had to do something, but what?It's easy to fear for the future of the short story, but authors like Matthew Iden give me hope that the art of the short story is still very much alive.