One short story that caught my attention and left me craving more last weekend

I’m one of those weird readers who often craves mid-length novels, or at least what I consider mid-length, as I find such descriptions rather subjective. For me, they’re books between 60 and 80,000 words, roughly the range that The Erik Blair Diaries found itself in, plus one I’m currently reading that I can’t get enough of, Shadow Runner.

But it doesn’t mean I won’t opt for the occasional short story if it catches my eye. Spark by Tracy Lawson is one of them. Another I’d read around that same time a few years back is slipping my mind, but I can assure you it had a hardcore libertarian viewpoint as it was about a family just exiting a society bought and paid for by, you guessed it, our enemy, the state.

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I think the author’s name was Joe Vasicek or something along those lines. Anyway, it was a phenomenal short read and one I’ll share if I can locate it. But now I got another one to add: Blood & Faith by Scott Wasilewski. This one will come at you fast and hard, the way a short story should. And it packs a punch in character depth despite the short “screen time,” as I call it.

Two Deep Characters, One Eye-Opening Revelation

Yeah, that’s the only hint I’m giving here. Let’s just say that we got two characters, brothers, in fact, Jacob and Billy. And yes, I know, I remembered names for once, something I’m dreadful at 99.9 percent of the time.

Anyway, the brief, vague synopsis here is that Billy landed himself in trouble, Jacob is on his way to the rescue, and during the climax of this short stint, we get one moving revelation. One that I’ll sum up as, in a scenario like this, What would you do if you were facing the same predicament? Yeah, vague, but I’m not giving anything away here.

Either way, that would you rather scenario drove the story home for me. The whole do what is right or what is easy conundrum. Or, given the scope of this short read, both choices one of the two characters had to make would have been rough. Beyond rough. But, one may have left him better off in a manner of speaking, yet the what-if factor may have (excuse the echo) come into play.

As for the choice he made? Yeah, you can also say he’s better off in a way. But in another, he got hit pretty hard with some recoil. That’s all I’m saying here, and I hope I caught your attention.

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Overall, this short story left me craving more. And if you’re interested in checking out the work, visit Scott’s site, and you’ll find it.