Mitchell Waldman's Blog: New Writing/Reviews, page 2

New review of BROTHERS, FATHERS, AND OTHER STRANGERS

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...

Thanks to Frank Sikora for his latest review of my short story collection BROTHERS, FATHERS, AND OTHER STRANGERS.

New novel coming soon!

My new novel THE VISITOR has been accepted for publication by All Things That Matter Press. More news on this coming soon!

New story

Thanks to Bright Flash Literary Journal for publishing my story "Harry" today.

https://brightflash1000.com/2024/12/0...

Best of Net nomination

Thanks to the Sunlight Press for the nomination for the Best of Net of my story "Listen: A Better Life is Coming."

https://www.thesunlightpress.com/2024...

New review of BROTHERS

Thanks to NewInBooks for their review of my latest book:

"Brothers, Fathers, and Other Strangers delves into family dysfunction and personal alienation through thirty-eight evocative stories, blending vivid imagination with profound emotional depth." –NewInBooks.com

New review of BROTHERS, FATHERS AND OTHER STRANGERS at Impspired Magazine

https://impspired.com/2023/03/27/brot...


Thanks so much to Steve Cawte, Don Beukes, and IMPSPIRED Magazine for the very thorough review of my book, BROTHERS, FATHERS, AND OTHER STRANGERS today.

In short, Don says:

"In this immersive, provocative and engaging collection, MITCHELL WALDMAN challenges us to reflect on our own moral compass, through the experiences of the characters and their own personal battles but also situations many of us would rather try to avoid. This is where Waldman succeeds in his ‘creative representation’ of personal relationships, religious views, political alliances and moralistic viewpoints in this fictional canvas of the human condition, no matter who we are or where we are from. Such is the impact of this collection, that we are compelled to individually search and maybe even adjust our moral compass, as a result of the creative representation of humanity in this collection…. A provocative yet existential collection, which challenges all of us to reflect on our current view of this world, this life we exist in, no matter what state our moral compass is in."

FREE Kindle copy of my first story collection, PETTY OFFENSES AND CRIMES OF THE HEART

https://www.amazon.com/Petty-Offenses...

I'm offering free on Kindle, for the next few days, my first short story collection, Petty Offenses and Crimes of the Heart, originally published by Charlie Hughes and Wind Publications. Thanks for looking!

Story in The Piker Press

https://www.pikerpress.com/article.ph...

Thanks to The Piker Press for publishing my story "Tell Me Something I Don't Know", also in my story collection BROTHERS, FATHERS, AND OTHER STRANGERS. BROTHERS is now available in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle versions at reduced prices.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/179859157X

Review of BROTHERS, FATHERS, AND OTHER STRANGERS

"Waldman has crafted a nuanced and engaging collection. His stories set us on an emotional tightrope, daring us to forgo a safety net, while seducing us to look down and discover who we are. Sometimes poignantly devastating, and other times savagely funny, he guides us through family trauma, corporate America, and faithful understanding to remind us if we can be less of a stranger to the world, maybe we can be less of a stranger to ourselves." --Josh Penzone, author of The Court of Vintage Woods: Linked Stories.

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Excerpt from BROTHERS, FATHERS, AND OTHER STRANGERS

Beginning of the story "The Monster Inside":

Sidney Hellman doesn't remember who he was the last time around, if there was a last time. But how can he? None of us do.

Still, there are clues.

For instance, he starts seeing things. Images of events from another life. Terrible images.

He'll be riding the elevated train to his office in the city, reading the paper, the windows of the old apartment buildings -- some with the blurred faces and lives of their occupants -- whizzing by, and this image will flash in his head for a second or two: piles of gaunt, decaying bodies with flies swarming around them and a voice going with it, saying "Excellent work, Field Marshal, excellent work.” He doesn't see the face. Only hears the voice. And sees the brawny, pasty-faced Nazi soldier snapping his boots together and thrusting his arm forward, to the sky, in the standard Nazi salute, "Danke, Mein Fuhrer."

Or throngs cheering, clapping, waving Nazi flags, as a deep guttural German voice speaks on and on, louder and louder. The funny thing is, he doesn't understand the language, doesn't even know what the words mean.

These flashes come at odd moments, totally without warning. Dozing in his chair, watching television, he'll be brought terrifyingly back to wakefulness by a fat German face and voice, "Mein Fuhrer!," or taking a walk with his dog, Arnold, down the street, it will sound like voices talking to him, or he'll see the black smoking chimney stacks, even smell the sickly sweet smell of its output for a moment, only a second. Then, silence again, the odor gone, the visions vanished, as he's back following Arnold, who sniffs a tree, paws the grass, searches for a place to do his business, the sun in orangish glow setting on the horizon, a sudden breeze cooling the sweat that has started trickling down his face, and the cars on the boulevard swish by in anonymity.

What is happening to me?, Sidney wonders, wiping the perspiration off his forehead. Is this a nervous breakdown? What did I do to deserve this?

He's a Jew, a Jewish dentist. He's had some problems (but who hasn't!), some problems with his finances lately, namely the IRS, threatening to freeze his bank account for back taxes which he doesn’t think he owes, but hasn’t done anything about. And he has two grown sons who won’t even talk to him. Except when they need money. A lot of stress on him, a lot of pressure lately. He tends to like the scotch a little too much, and sometimes the horses. But, he's fairly happy, has a fairly good life, a good marriage, a good business. He's never committed a crime, has been an honest guy for the most part, would never screw someone over just for the hell of it, not like some of the other guys he knows. He's a dentist, for God's sakes, how much harm can he do? Break a tooth? Screw up a root canal? (Okay, guilty!) He devotes his life to helping other people.

So what is this all about? Is he cracking up? Where are these strange images and sounds coming from? And why now, out of the blue, after forty-nine years of life? Or are they waking nightmares from old remembrances, stories told by his relatives of those awful days when so many of his relatives, ancestors perished in that darkest of dark wars? But why, he wonders, why does he seem to get these images in this particular way, from this particular viewpoint?
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