Forum / Where Alligators Sleep

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  Darryl Price

  Aug 01, 02:37pm

  The new collection of short flash fiction by Sheldon Lee Compton called Where Alligators Sleep (Foxhead Books/Tipp City) arrived in our mailbox last week. It’s quite a large collection with over 19 stories to enjoy. The whole thing begins to unfold into a kind of panorama of an imaginary town where life ain’t so easy, but “it sure feels real.”The thing I like a lot about Sheldon’s work is that it remains true to its own gritty time and place, a region that Sheldon creates word for word and piece by piece until you start to get a real feel for the geography of the anyplace and its rugged, everyday people. It’s both sweet and sour to my mind, a little gutsy. One might even say hard-scrabble, put-upon, but a river of honest tenderness flows through it all that is undeniable. It could be your town now or the town of your childhood memory. That is the undercurrent put there on purpose by the author of this little book for me. When a character says, “I can’t dance, but I’ll get you some punch,” you know exactly what he is feeling. Elsewhere Sheldon describes these folks as having “marble-sized hearts working in the cold.” That’s down to the dirt, man. But over and over, you get someone working hard to squeeze the coal of existence down to a few shiny nuggets of genuine existence. He’s a hard working man, Mr. Compton is, and it’s funny how much these stories of his get to remind you of wild flowers in the end, bunches, in the tired hands of a good-hearted human being looking for a friend and maybe a beer as he makes his way home after a long, exhausting hot night at the rat races.

  Darryl Price

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  Henry Standing Bear

  Aug 01, 02:53pm

  Thanks very much for the close read and kind words, DP. Did the digital copy I sent only have 19 stories included? The final galley version sent to press had 67 stories. I'm curious only because there was an initial problem at the press involving a galley sent to me that had some of the stories missing. If I sent that one to you, then I would certainly want to send the one that has all the stories. Your words are so kind, bud, and so insightful. You really get what I'm trying for in my writing and you know well how good that can feel to see that happen.

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  Henry Standing Bear

  Aug 01, 02:55pm

  Any idea when you'll be posting this review to Olentangy's website? I'll splash it around and maybe it'll drive some more traffic that way :)

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  Darryl Price

  Aug 01, 03:03pm

  It will probably appear this weekend, but, yeah, the one you sent us only had 19 stories to it. Thanks for letting me look at it, Shel.Glad you liked the review. Good luck.

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  Henry Standing Bear

  Aug 01, 03:11pm

  Holy shit. Would you like to see the one with the total amount of 67? That's a lot of book to miss out on for a review, even though you've said a great deal here already. That's up to you, and I surely apologize for that mistake. Damn.

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  Darryl Price

  Aug 01, 07:43pm

  No, sorry, it would be redundant, my friend.Perhaps the next person might be able to see the whole thing and respond to that for you.

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  Henry Standing Bear

  Aug 02, 01:13am

  Hmmmm...okie dokes, DP. Well, thanks for these kind words.

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  Darryl Price

  Aug 03, 03:31am

  You're welcome, Shel. Obviously I'm a true fan of your work, but not of repeating myself. You'll still get a lot of deserved attention for this one, I'm sure.Things happen. Just keep putting out the good stuff.It's all anyone can do.

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  Henry Standing Bear

  Aug 03, 11:43pm

  I understand, bud. It was my oversight anyways :)

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