Ayana (Short Story Written by Stephen King)

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(Short Story Written by Stephen King)

For a short story we are dealing with a lot of character names to remember. Consequently, this takes a lot of work and concentration, is the story worth it? Good question. In comparison to "Harvey's Dream," and "The New York Times..." along with "Rest Stop," it is a little better written, although the ending in "Rest Stop," is far above "Alana's ending.

In "Ayana" he only cusses once, thank goodness- every time someone does in these so called modern stories, it just smells as if s/he has a bad vocabulary (the author, not the character), as if the author couldn't find a good replacement-limited expressions. Anyhow, this is my forth review and forth short story out of the book: "Just after Sunset," of which I've read of Mr. King's. It is better written than the previous three-I repeat- and has good descriptions, good explaining, theme building is good, stays in his proper tenses; he shows the despairing-ness in growing old, his similes are good for once, in the last three stories it would have been better to have dropped them. I actually found a little style in this story believe it or not, although he took it from Sherwood Anderson, but as Hemingway once said: you can take, only if you can do it better. Perhaps he didn't need much dialogue in this story either, because it is not there, since he used a narration that was more reporting than being involved-which always lacks in adjectives. There is not much suspense in this as there was in "Rest Stop."

Actually the ending was a little flat in "Ayana" but we all can't come up with dynamic endings every time-now can we. I guess the story is good enough, although I'd not nominated it for a Blue Ribbon. It is not a great story, but again I repeat, the aging dilemma we all face is the thread that holds the story together for me.

Title - Six Great Short Stories - Author - Robert M. De La Torre - Book Review

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Appropriately entitled, "Six Great Short Stories" is a unique work encompassing Robert Michael de la Torre's wit and wisdom in his creative approach to the ancient art of storytelling.

He opens with Always Walking Barefoot, a simple tale of a childish friendship of a young boy, Ben, ten years old, and a girl, Freida, as they get into mischief in a country setting, not much unlike a Huckleberry Finn world. Written in the third person, with a noticeable lack of any dialogue, the story sets you back in fields of grass, out by the old train tracks, rolling down bumpy dirt roads, and facing decisions kids make when adult supervision is, well, out of town on business. Naive to the dangers that lurk in the world, Ben and Freida manage to create their own reality by being who they are - good people not looking to hurt anyone. By being young and innocent, they avoid the dangers that may have been present. I believe the message here is that although "bad people" exist, if you are good to all people in an honest way, most people will be good to you - we all have many sides to our values and integrity.

Six Great Short Stories" go on with a well developed Captain Lime, a dialogue laced "Shiver-me-timbers" Pirate story of epic proportions set in the damp days of 1576. Starting with a shipwreck, this story takes you on an adventure like Johnny Depp did with Pirates of the Caribbean, progressing so quickly that it's like a Disneyland ride. "Aye, matie, errrr."

His stories are diverse and imaginative. His style is straightforward, often a bit repetitive in name articulation of characters instead of using pronouns, but that's his "signature." Each story starts with a very intriguing lead and builds character development quickly.

Each story has its own voice, and as such is written in a changed galley text format. The interesting layout of his work lends itself to enjoying the book, by having oversized type pitch with varying fonts making it a pleasure to your eyes. Robert M. de la Torre takes a casual approach towards his presentation, more reminiscent of personal manuscripts than mass produced literature. I found his work to be original, intriguing and by all accounts entertaining. His short story entitled, Jack Sleeps in the Park, was so kind and loving I sensed the sentiments of the author becoming revealed. Having a half dozen discrete stories makes this a good book to bring with you while traveling, or having by your bedside table, being able to pick up, finish a story and take a break. Although the "next story" is upon you so quickly that you just might need to postpone your "break" until the end of the book. Bravo Robert, "Six Great Short Stories" is like a half dozen roses. We're anxiously awaiting the sequel, "Six More Great Short Stories."

Reviewed by: Gary R. Sorkin

Gary R. Sorkin is the Senior Editor for Pacific Book Review. Please visit Pacific Book Review at:
http://www.pacificbookreview.com/

Stephen King - "The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates" Review

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This short story of Mr. King's "The New York Times..." really needed to be longer, it is better than "Harvey's Dream," but that isn't saying much. It starts off with a mystery, and ends in twilight. He is by far no Bram Stoker in writing short stories; it is goofy, a little gross, plainly written, more satire than drama or whatever: to be honest, when he wrote the book "Just before Sunset," he should have reviewed some of H.P. Lovecraft's short stories, and Clark A. Smith's, and Stokers: you can see he's out of practice.

It is about a plane crash, and although Mr. King has a great imagination, he unendingly and unnecessarily plants dumb innuendos here and there throughout this ten-page story, although I think he's having fun doing it. Anyhow, there is not much energy in this story, but a good story line. He cusses, and I can't guess why, do people really cuss that much around him-do people really get a jolt out of that? It doesn't do the story any good. His style is like a flat balloon although his dialogue is better than "Harvey's Dream" and the narration is one step up.

I'm not going to tell you the end of the story, a writer needs to sell books, good or not. If you read it, you'll have to read it twice to absorb it completely I do believe: or read it slow. Plus, he could have found a better name for the story. He's lucky he has a following; he'd starve to death if he depended on this book. (8-12-2010)