Michael Hemmingson (1966–2014)

A five-star read. A collection of shorts that take the reader on a whirlwind exploration of various relationships from voyeuristic neighbors to broken marriages to high school proms that end with UFOs, from visits from her legless ex just returned from Iraq who looks at what he should've got, from strip club rendevouses after the baby is delivered to picnics in the park. There's a darkness and a threateningness underlying each story. Each one is just skirting the edge of the chasm.

No disrespect to Hemmingson, but I grabbed this book from a library display just to read the interviews. I had to know more about the person that wrote Europe Central. All I can say now is that I am desperate to read more of his work, particularly The Royal Family and The Ice Shirt.Complaints about the quality of this printing are just. The interviews are interesting but didn't anyone proof this?

This is a fairly wild tale, told by a man who suddenly found himself, after five years’ celibacy, surrounded by young women with urgent desires of an unusual nature. These desires include partner swapping and multiple involvements. It’s a reasonably well written book, in the rather rambling, diaristic style beloved of many US writers, and I expect it will appeal to those who have a particular interest in the unusual practices represented. It’s also quite instructive regarding the show more motivations of the principal participants. A fairly narrow perspective, but a useful book. show less

This Other Eden A good collection of short stories if you are not put off by the blurb which says: "Failure, miscarriages and suicide. Divorce, incest and misery"