Mitchell Waldman's Blog: New Writing/Reviews, page 4

Ckeck out new fiction and poetry at BLUE LAKE REVIEW

The January 2022 issue of Blue Lake Review is now online, featuring exciting new fiction and poetry from some great writers, as well as two new book reviews.

You can find it at:
http://bluelakereview.weebly.com

New customer reviews of BROTHERS!

New customer reviews of BROTHERS describe it as “incredible,” “fantastic,” “powerful,” “ a great collection of short stories,” “short stories that touch the heart,” as including stories that are “extremely well developed and will leave you feeling something, whether it be sadness or joy,” “a well-written page-turner that is interesting and insightful,” with “amazing and creative short stories with many familiar characters and cool twists…”, “a great collection of stories with many great characters and themes behind them….,” “insightful and full of meaning,” and stories which are characterized by “the strength of the dialogue…." Thanks, everyone! I appreciate the compliments and am glad you liked the book!
https://www.amazon.com/Brothers-Fathe...

Revisiting PETTY OFFENSES

More readers are rediscovering (or discovering for the first time!) my first story collection PETTY OFFENSES AND CRIMES OF THE HEART, calling it, among other things, a "phenomenal read..." with "quality stylistic short stories..." that are "surprisingly personable," "a thought-provoking collection" of stories all of which are "page-turning and well devised," "a great bedtime read," a book that is "smartly crafted and intelligently written," You can check out PETTY OFFENSES on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Petty-Offenses...

Story published in FICTION ON THE WEB

Thanks to Charlie Fish and Fiction on the Web for publishing my story "Door to Door," which also appears in BROTHERS, FATHERS, AND OTHER STRANGERS in a slightly different form.

The link is: https://www.fictionontheweb.co.uk/202...

Signed copies at a discount

Hi All. I've got a limited number of copies of my new book, BROTHERS, FATHERS, AND OTHER STRANGERS which I can send out, for $ 3.00 off list price, inscribe and sign for Christmas for you, your friends, or loved ones. Send me a message if interested on Goodreads, on Facebook, or on my website: http://mitchwaldman.homestead.com. Thanks!

BROTHERS story to be published at Fiction on the Web

My story "Door to Door," which appears in my new story collection, BROTHERS, FATHERS, AND OTHER STRANGERS, will appear December 3rd at Fiction on the Web.

BROTHERS story published at The Piker Press

http://www.pikerpress.com/article.php...

Thanks to The Piker Press for publishing my story "Spirits in the Night" today. It's one of the stories in my new story collection, BROTHERS, FATHERS, AND OTHER STRANGERS.

Short story published in Northwest Indiana Literary Journal

My story "Chestnut Street" has been published in Northwest Indiana Literary Journal. This story also appears in my story collection, PETTY OFFENSES AND CRIMES OF THE HEART.

https://northwestindianaliteraryjourn...

Story published in The Chamber Magazine

Thanks to Phil Slattery and The Chamber Magazine for publishing my short story "The Monster Inside," https://thechambermagazine.com/.../th... which is also included in my new story collection, BROTHERS, FATHERS, AND OTHER STRANGERS.

Book Review of BROTHERS: Insightful stories with gritty, existential empathy

“Nothing matters anymore. Nothing.” So begins one story at the heart of Mitchell Waldman’s outstanding new short story collection, Brothers, Fathers, and Other Strangers. Fortunately, everything matters in Waldman’s book of stories featuring boys and men who might optimistically be described as “having a tough time.” Waldman has crafted a collection in which each story shines like a beacon on a string of interconnected lights. At a deep level, every moment in these matters a great deal. Every scene, every action, every conversation carries the weight of the world—most of all, every character.

The men in these heartfelt stories experience a kind of sandpaper empathy for the people and events around them. At best, they have a rough understanding of why they are who they are. These men struggle, sometimes miserably, sometimes humorously—often both. Waldman’s greatest skill is that he transfers his characters’ gritty empathy to his readers, letting us care for these men as their lives swirl around them.

These stories lend themselves well to comparisons with some of the greats of modern short story writing. Two clear progenitors would be Raymond Carver for existentialism and Charles Bukowski for emotional tone. Among contemporary short story masters, Michael Keith’s sad-boy mortality and Robert Scotellaro’s craggy disquiet make great companion writers for Waldman’s universe of complicated and unsettled characters.

While men’s experiences are central in the book, women aren’t absent. Appropriately, the women who appear in these stories are equally troubled by life. They aren’t relegated to stereotypes such as mother-substitutes or objects of desire. Most important, the men’s problems aren’t contrived to be the fault of women, as too much male-focused American literature has done at its worst. The insight that men are, for better or worse, the shapers of our own fate is another notable strength of this excellent collection of connected stories. --John Sheirer, author of Stumbling Through Adulthood