Encounters with Unexpected Animals

by Bret Anthony Johnston

An imaginative, moving collection of stories infused with the magic and enigma of the human condition and drenched in Texas heat, from the best-selling author of We Burn Daylight.

Encounters with Unexpected Animals takes readers deep into the heart of bestselling author Bret Anthony Johnston’s home state of Texas, where teenagers search for love, parents grasp at connections with their children, and animals—real or imagined, familiar or unexpected—are reminders of the mystery, danger, and beauty of being alive.

In “Caiman,” a father buys a baby alligator in hopes of keeping his family safe. In “Soldier of Fortune,” a teenage boy dog-sits for his neighbors after tragedy strikes, and his innocent snooping uncovers the family’s most guarded secret. And in the luminous “Half of What Atlee Rouse Knows About Horses,” an elderly man’s heart is laid bare with the raw and breathtaking power of wild horses.

Johnston’s humor, empathy, and mastery of prose ring out through each story, bringing every finely-drawn character to radiant life. Individually, the stories are by turns suspenseful, poignant and exhilarating. Taken together, they reveal the abiding connections that lead us from sorrow and impermanence back to ourselves and, ultimately, to each other.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Animals, Audiobook

224 pages, Hardcover

Published February 24, 2026

About the author

Bret Anthony Johnston is the author of the internationally best-selling novel Remember Me Like This, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, and the winner of the 2015 McLaughlin-Esstman-Stearns Prize. The book has been translated around the world and is being made into a major motion picture. Bret is also the author of the award-winning Corpus Christi: Stories, which was named a Best Book of the Year by The Independent (London) and The Irish Times, and the editor of Naming the World and Other Exercises for the Creative Writer. His work appears in The Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, The Paris Review, Glimmer Train Stories, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Best American Short Stories, and elsewhere.

His awards include the Pushcart Prize, the Glasgow Prize for Emerging Writers, the Stephen Turner Award, the Cohen Prize, a James Michener Fellowship, the Kay Cattarulla Prize for short fiction, and many more. His nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, the New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Tin House, The Best American Sports Writing, and on NPR’s All Things Considered.

A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he’s the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship and a 5 Under 35 honor from the National Book Foundation. He wrote the documentary film Waiting for Lightning, which was released in theaters around the world by Samuel Goldwyn Films. He teaches in the Bennington Writing Seminars and at Harvard University, where he is the Director of Creative Writing.

Reviews

[Holly R W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Johnston is a new author for me. After reading his short stories, I will be on the look-out to see what he does next.

His writing shines in this collection. He was able to capture the culture of southern Texas. Told through a male perspective, these are stories about dads doing the best they can for their children, wives and even exes. Several stories feature teens, written in a nun-fussy, realistic way. If I have a mild criticism, it is that the voices of these males (adults and teens) all started to blend together for me.

4.5 stars


Note: Despite the title, animals do not play a big part in the stories, with the exception of the last one, which is about horses. The other animals with lesser roles are: snakes, chickens, and a baby alligator.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are only two kinds of stories in Bret Anthony Johnston’s Encounters with Unexpected Animals. The excellent. And the extraordinary. And by extraordinary, I mean, “OMG, he just wrote something so amazingly exquisite and spot-on and TRUE that it’s laying my heart bare and it’s revealing something I’ve always known and yet I’ve never KNOWN I’ve known.”

Case in point. These are the last line of one of his longest short stories, The Beginning of Wisdom (curiously, this is not a spoiler because it will mean nothing unless you read the story): “He’s listening to the intricate music of longing and weeping when he must, He’s watching the clouds. He’s waiting and waiting, whiling away the hours until a storm gathers and his son can appreciate the painstaking labor of hope, the coded, sheltering lessons of sorrow.”

Many of his stories end this way, with reflections so poignant that I read them multiple times, and a 200-page collection ended up taking me a full week to finish. Animals figure in meaningful ways. In another favorite, Soldier of Fortune, a young teenage boy is asked to care for the dog of an older teenage girl, whom he has a crush on, when her little brother is severely burnt. He doesn’t realize it, but he is about to grow up fast. In another, Half of What Atlee Rouse Knows About Horses, an elderly horse-lover witnesses one of the collection’s most exquisite scenes: a grown stallion saving a drowning colt.

Then there is Time of the Preacher, which I recognized as a somewhat lighthearted addition to the collection, but it inexplicably moved me to tears – proving once again that reading touches each reader in broken places. It takes place during the pandemic when an ex-wife summons her ex-husband (who is wearing a bandana, not a mask) to search for a snake in a home that her renter – a preacher – just deserted. Or is the snake just a ploy? Once again, the last few lines are stunning.

The themes – people searching for connections and encountering the unexpected, the journeys and detours we take to understand ourselves and each other, the sorrows and the joys that are part of being alive – are all illuminated in this collection. I am so thankful to the author and Random House for enabling me to be an early reader and to share my honest and overwhelmingly positive review.

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I’ve never read a particular author before, I often feel like a short story collection serves as a great introduction to their work. It allows me to get a sense of their style on a smaller scale - it’s a good way to determine whether I vibe with their writing. In the case of Encounters with Unexpected Animals, I definitely got a feel for who Bret Anthony Johnston is as a writer, and reading these stories made me so excited to read his longer fiction.

Each of the twelve stories in this collection is set in Texas and explores pivotal moments in the protagonists’ lives: times of heartache, uncertainty, longing, regret, tragedy, and euphoria. Most of the stories focus on parent-child relationships and male coming-of-age, and there’s a singular vulnerability to each one that really struck me. Johnston’s prose evokes deep emotion without feeling overly sentimental; the most mundane, ordinary moments are infused with instantly recognizable, heart stopping honesty.

There was only one story that didn’t resonate with me, but I could list all eleven of the others as favorites. Some true stand-outs for me were “Paradeability,” in which a grieving father and son attend a clown conference, where they feel themselves start to come alive again; “Dixon,” in which a father risks everything to save his daughter from drug addiction; “The Beginning of Wisdom,” about a pivotal summer a teenager spends working at a Mexican restaurant; and “Time of the Preacher,” in which a viper hides in the most unexpected of places. “Half of What Atlee Rouse Knows About Horses,” about an 80-year-old man looking back on his life, was beautiful and wistful. I also loved the title story, the shortest in the collection, which ended so abruptly and unexpectedly that I had to sit with it for a while before moving on.

I thought Johnston nailed the ending of every single story - and I know that’s not an opinion everyone will share, because the conclusions are not neat and tidy. Johnston isn’t concerned with satisfying readers by resolving situations clearly and completely; rather, he’s interested in taking us to the hardest moments and stranding us there. We’re left to wonder what happens next, and it feels like real life in all its messy, melancholy, magical glory. It’s breathtaking, really.

Encounters with Unexpected Animals is an example, to me, of everything a good short story collection can do: It can transport the reader somewhere else completely, while still holding up a mirror to the real world and reflecting profound truths about life, love, memory, and connection. Thank you to Random House for the early reading opportunity.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each short story in Encounters with Unexpected Animals captures a slice of life. Parents and kids, various animals, a lot of sweaty Texas heat. They are unsettling and tense and go in unexpectedly dark directions.

Johnston's skills in crafting these stories is present on every page. They're captivating. I wanted them to go on.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the Advance Reader Copy. (pub. date 2/24/26)

[Sacha · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

I love reading and teaching short stories, and I find short story collections to be such a gift, especially when sprinkled between dozens of back-to-back novels. They're typically a nice change of pace, and I really enjoy not just the stories on their own but also the messaging of the collection overall. For me, while there are some great stories here, it is that broad connection that really made this grouping shine. The author's note, replete with a well selected Pearl Jam lyric, really sealed that deal.

One obvious unifying note is the sense of place, and it's intriguing to observe a variety of characters operating in mostly typical aspects of life in their Texan settings. I thought I might have *not* positive feelings about potential tie-ins here, but I was pleased not to find myself put off.

While I enjoyed the whole group to various degrees, I did find some of the stories to be a bit *too* short, and there was one that was a strong standout in a positive way (which I'll keep to myself so you can make your own unmitigated determinations about the rankings). This is also my first experience with this author, so I'm now intrigued by the rampant appreciation for Johnston's previous work, particularly of a different genre. I am curious to know what I'll think of the different format and how much other readers' incoming appreciation for those earlier works impacts their impressions of this newest effort.

I enjoyed this very much not only because "I'd [also] rather be with an animal," but that didn't hurt. I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Madison Dettlinger at Random House Marketing for this widget, which I received in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Encounters with Unexpected Animals, by Bret Anthony Johnston, is a fantastic collection of a dozen short stories set in Texas and presenting a parade of rough-hewn characters working hard jobs in hard lives. Facing anxiety and pain and grief, often alienated from those around them even as they try to make or renew some sort of human contact, these characters get under your skin and stay there, Johnston’s own clear compassion and empathy for them evoking the same response in the readers. While as is always the case in collections some stories are stronger than others, there isn’t a weak one in the bunch, and that’s something I can almost never say about a story collection.

The title story has long ranked as one of my favorite stories in contemporary times, a masterclass in the short-short story as well as in the slow build-up of tension between a man and his son’s problematic girlfriend. It’s a perfectly constructed story that veers off in an unexpected direction and honestly is worth the price of admission alone. Tension and the possibility of violence also haunt “Dixon”, whose title character risks a potentially dangerous criminal action as a means to helping his fifteen-year-old daughter.

Parenting is at the center of “Paradeability” as well, with a widowed father taking his son —into clowns since his mother died and now creating his own act as “Po’ Boy the Hoboy” — to a clown convention. The clown material is fascinating (one senses Johnston really did his homework here), the awkward movement of the father out of grief and into sexual attraction is warmly humorous and touching, but the way in which the father tries to understand this strange creature of a son and, despite his alienness tries to help him in his passion, is the heart of story and is incredibly moving.

One feels for all the characters in these stories as they reach so hard for what they need, what they had, what they think they want until they learn otherwise, for love, for wisdom, for an end to loneliness or regret, for happiness for themselves, for happiness for those they love. All of them feel like real people. There is a gritty authenticity to their lives, their actions and dialogue. That same sense of realism holds true in the settings; this is clearly a region Johnston is intimately familiar with.

Meanwhile, as noted above with regard to the title story, Johnston is a fantastic craftsman when it comes to story construction, structure, tone, and style, equally deft at moments of violence, introspection, domesticity, or big beautiful set pieces, as in the last story “Half of What Atlee Rouse Knows About Horses”, when the main character is witness to a herd of horses crossing a river. Finally, time and again Johnston gives us a killer ending, nailing the close of a story more consistently than most authors I’ve read.

This is simply a superb collection. Readers will love it. Would-be writers should study it. I can’t recommend it enough.

[Mary Lins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a HUGE fan of Bret Anthony Johnson’s novels, and so I approached his new short story collection, “Encounters with Unexpected Animals”, hoping they would be as rewarding. Well, I fell in love on the first page of the first story with the recently widowed man who’s thirteen-year-old son was competing in a competition at a clown convention in Houston. This charming, funny, and poignant story assured me that I was in for a treat with this twelve-story collection.

Set in Corpus Christi, fourteen-year-old Josh remembers the year 1986 when he was starting high school and in love with the “fast” girl across the street. A horrible freak accident affects both families in ways that will change everyone’s lives. This poignant and tragic memory moved me utterly.

Dixon is a Dairy Queen manager wrestling with his fifteen-year-old daughter’s burgeoning drug addiction. This suspenseful story is a testament to Johnston’s prodigious writing talent that he can, in fewer than 30 pages, write a story as compelling, meaty, and deep as a novel!

The story “Young Life” perfectly encapsulates adolescence in the early 1980s. All the fears - rational and irrational – and how dropping your tray in the cafeteria can be soul crushing. And then there are the things you’ve forgotten, like grocery store encyclopedia collections, boom boxes and cassette decks, the Sears catalog, and when childhood abruptly and violently ends.

I was especially moved by the sweet and sad story of Travis, who follows a childhood memory out to a lake and a small family he had once known briefly. Revisiting this memory ignites hope and plans for Travis’ future.

Most of the stories have to do with seminal moments in the lives of teen boys. Like the summer Julian worked in a Mexican Restaurant in Corpus driving a classic Cadillac to make deliveries.

Leave it to Johnston to have the final story in the collection be a doozy! Atlee Rouse, now 80 in a nursing home, recalls his past based on the horses he has had in his life. It’s a beautiful story of a life and love, and of the majesty of horses. You don’t have to be a horse lover to appreciate this story, but if you are, you will be in awe.

Bret Anthony Johnson is the director of the Michener Center at the University of Texas at Austin (my alma mater) and each of the twelve stories take place in my home state of Texas, which added a richness of familiarity for me. Johnson never disappoints!

Many thanks to Random House for this first look at these amazing stories.

[Mikala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Encounters with Unexpected Animals turned out to be a powerful, if sometimes uncomfortable, reading experience for me. This collection is very much a mixed bag in the sense that some stories landed harder than others, but even the ones that didn’t fully work for me lingered in my mind afterward. Johnston’s prose is razor-sharp and attentive to the tiniest emotional shifts; he has a real gift for taking an ordinary moment and twisting it just enough that you suddenly feel like you’re back inside one of your own worst days. These are stories that hit you in the gut, often without warning, and there’s a constant undercurrent of unease and vulnerability running through the whole collection.

One thing I especially appreciated, and that I know will be divisive, is the way these stories end. The conclusions are often abrupt, unresolved, and emotionally unsatisfying in a conventional sense, but that became one of the strengths of the book for me. Instead of tying anything up neatly, Johnston seems more interested in capturing a flash of truth or impact and then cutting the scene right as it hurts the most. It can feel disorienting, even frustrating, but it also mirrors how real life’s hardest moments rarely come with closure or catharsis. If you need tidy endings or clear resolutions, this aspect will probably be a deal breaker and I’d suggest steering clear. But if you’re open to ambiguity and you’re willing to sit with that raw, unfinished feeling, the structure of these stories makes their emotional force even more potent.

Overall, Encounters with Unexpected Animals is not an easy or comforting read, but it is a memorable and thoughtfully crafted one. The mix of bruising emotional honesty, vivid characterization, and those deliberately unsatisfying endings creates a collection that feels true to the messiness of real life. I’d recommend it to readers who don’t mind being unsettled and who appreciate short fiction that leaves you with more questions than answers, but also with a lingering sense that you’ve brushed up against something real.

[emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

bret anthony johnston’s short story collection encounters with unexpected animals is a collection that really came out of nowhere for me, touching me with its lyrical writing and honest exploration of life and human connection.

each of the twelve stories in the collection take place in texas, primarily in and around corpus christi and the gulf coast. there’s a distinctly masculine tone to many of the stories, not in the sense that they’re dripping with misogyny or altogether lacking in female characters, but rather for the way that johnston tends to highlight fatherhood, marriage, and adolescence in a way that is relatively new for me. and despite the fact that i have only been to texas one time literally twenty years ago, and that i am neither a man nor a father, i loved the way that each story was able to fully engage me and pull me into its emotional center.

my most frequent reaction to these stories was a deep sense of longing and melancholy. whether that be the tender ache of a father watching his son grow up, or a man ceaselessly trying and failing to help his daughter get over her drug addiction, or the chaotic array of memories of horses that an elderly man in a care facility pages through near the end of his life, i felt immersed completely in the lives of these characters.

overall a really lovely collection that nearly brought me to tears on multiple occasions. maybe more aptly titled “encounters with heartbroken texan parents,” it’s maybe the perfect thing to read on a chokingly humid summer day while you tick off all of the reasons that you’re itching to leave your hometown.

thank you to random house and netgalley for an e-ARC of this collection in exchange for my honest review.

[Susan Poer · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with all collections of short stories, I liked some of these better than others. All are set in TX and explore residents hopes, dreams, tragedies, and life events. I loved 'Paradeability' about a widower taking his son to a clown convention in Houston. Who knew all the types of clowns that exist, and levels of effort some go to in perfecting their craft. 'Soldier of Fortune' was also a standout about a lovesick teenager who finds out his crushes' deep dark secret. Many are very short with abrupt endings, leaving you to determine what happened. Many will also stick with you as you compare and contrast different yet similar experiences. There are many stories of unrequited love, and families dealing with tragedies. There aren't many animals in this book, and the story of the namesake only briefly mentions animals, so the title is a bit misleading. It's very well written, and although I haven't read the author's other book 'We Burn Daylight', this made me interested in giving that a look as well.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uncertain, Texas, is where you wind up if you’re lost. Or aim to be. from Encounters with Unexpected Animals

Marvelous short stories about the odd, the everyday, parents and children, our relationship to animals, filled with humor and beautifully expressed insights.

A dad takes his son to a clown convention. A father warns off a girl leading his son down the wrong path, but she turns the upper hand. A man recalls dog sitting for his boyhood neighbors and uncovering a secret. A car salesman reluctantly sells a vintage car. A fast food restaurant manager sells collectible kids meals toys on the black market. A mother buys her disturbed son ‘Back Room’ magazines. A young man delivers food for a Mexican restaurant run by a strange but likeable family. A viper can’t be found but lurks in the most unexpected place.

I enjoyed them all.

Memory lied as often as it didn’t, and what you’d forgotten could shape you are surely as what you hadn’t. from Encounters with Unexpected Animals

Thanks to Random House for a free book through NetGalley.

[Suzette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently read Encounters With Unexpected Animals by Bret Anthony Johnston. This collection of short stories offers a thoughtful exploration of family, relationships, and the ways animals—both literal and symbolic—intersect with our lives. Johnston’s writing is sharp yet tender, capturing moments of vulnerability and connection with an understated beauty.

Each story feels intimate, drawing readers into the emotional landscapes of families navigating love, loss, and the unexpected. The presence of animals often serves as a catalyst for reflection or change, adding layers of meaning without feeling forced. I especially appreciated the way the stories balance melancholy with hope, leaving me contemplative rather than weighed down.

The collection as a whole is moving and cohesive. Johnston’s ability to evoke empathy for his characters makes this a memorable read for anyone who enjoys literary fiction with emotional depth and an appreciation for the quiet significance of animals in our lives.

[Sharon M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House for gifting me a digital ARC of this short story collection by Bret Anthony Johnston. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4 stars!

Even though I am not always a big fan of short stories, I was anxious to read this because I enjoyed Johnston's recent book, We Burn Daylight. All of these short stories also take place in his home state of Texas. These stories are about the every day, and sometimes the unusual, about our lives and our relationships with animals. Johnston writes wonderfully and these stories will pull you in, of course, some more than others. Most end rather abruptly, giving the reader plenty of space to ponder and fill in the blanks, but if you like neat endings, that might trouble you. These are mostly slow stories, where the people and the relationships shine.

[Andy Krahling · Rating 4 out of 5]

The short story is sometimes an overlooked avenue for many authors -- I happen to love them. I had no idea what to expect from this collection, and I was pleasantly surprised. Set primarily in coastal Texas, these tales were examinations of humanity, from a range of different viewpoints. I loved the fact that many of the finales were open-ended -- you had to use your imagination -- it wasn't always clear as to the outcome.

The author wrote with humanity, humor, grittiness and love. While I didn't love all the stories, I really enjoyed most of them. The author has a good grasp on his characters and why they do what they do.

The author has a new fan.

I received a complimentary copy of the book from the publisher and NetGalley, and my review is being left freely.

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have pointed out before that a well written collection of short stories is often more of a challenge to a reader than a novel of comparative length because of the need to reload every twenty minutes or so. This is such a collection. Johnston is a writer of extraordinary perception and heart, and the stories bear this out. An award winner married to another award winner, he is a master of the craft. These gems all share similar elements in that they are all set in the humid parts of Texas, with the action mostly at night, and with male protagonists, some being fathers trying to connect, some husbands, current and ex, trying to reach some level of understanding. This is definitely not the last of his work that I will read.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quietly arresting collection of twelve short stories set in Texas, Encounters with Unexpected Animals treats animals not as symbols but as thresholds, signalling moments when something shifts. Each encounter opens onto grief, loss, or the raw, unfinished business of teenage becoming. The prose is clean and readable, but the emotional weather is complicated, with storms moving in just when you think the sky is clear. These stories linger in the way good field encounters do, not loud, but persistent, asking what it means to be watched, chosen, or left behind. Thought-provoking and humane, this is a collection that trusts small moments to carry big weight.

[Thanks to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for an opportunity to read and share my opinion of this book.]

[Ahaaha4 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Encounters With Unexpected Animals is a collection of short stories by Bret Anthony Johnston. All the stories take place in Texas. It has been a very long time since I read a collection of short stories. I was never a fan because I always wanted more and they don’t leave me satisfied. Unfortunately that is how I felt about this collection. There were a few of the stories I enjoyed. Soldier of Fortune was my favorite of the stories. Many of the stories were just a few pages making it hard to connect to anything.

Now I know that short stories are just not for me, but I believe that if you are a lover of them you will like this collection.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Firetruckmama · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher, for which I thank them.

“Encounters with Unexpected Animals” is a collection of short stories by Bret Anthony Johnston. My one issue with every short story collection is that some of the stories are fantastic and others are okay - this book, for me, followed that same issue. Some of the short stories I found too short. I think all of the stories being set in Texas (my father’s home state) was wonderful and, for me, that was a great part of this book overall. I found the writing to be engaging and well done. If you like short stories or this author’s work, I think you will also enjoy this book. A 3.5 rating from me, rounded up to 4 stars.

[Maureen Timerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories, some about 20 minutes long, others are shorter. The common thread is they take place in Texas.
Some of theses are very emotional, and animals are referenced, some more than others!
There are some surprises here, and youngsters dealing with actions of their parents, like with cars.
I liked the gift of caiman, oh my! Also an ex-wife having her ex-husband come and get a snake out of the rental, standing on counters? Also special horses!
There is a bit of humor here, and some were page turning, and in the end wanting more answers!
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Random House, and was not required to give a positive review.

[Tina Goldberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Encounters with Animals is a collection of twelve short stories set in Texas. Very readable and thought provoking, some of the common themes include grief, loss, and teenage coming of age. Some of my favorites among these short stories are Paradeability (yes, this event/competition does exist in the world of clowns), Dixon, Miss McElroy, The Beginning of Wisdom, Time is the Preacher, and of course Half of What Atlee Rouse Knows about Horses.
I maybe expected more interarctions with animals in the stories, but we humans are also animals so its all good.

Thank you NetGalley & Random House for this eARC.

[Clarice Hope · Rating 3 out of 5]

A huge thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy!!

It took me a few months of off and on reading of these stories before finally finishing them. This set of short stories is *truly* Texas - the body, the mind, the soul.

I will say “Encounters with Unexpected Animals” wasn’t what I was expecting it to be. You know what? That’s okay! This was one of my first experiences with a collection of stories and I thought the setting brought a nice sense of cohesiveness while maintaining an edge of mystery and anticipation because you never knew what the next was going to bring.

“Paradeability” and “Dixon” were two of my favorite stories throughout the entire collection.

[Kim Novak (The Reading Rx) · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK, so I would have chosen to read this book solely because there is a goat on the cover. Seriously, though, while I have enjoyed Bret Anthony Johnson's full-length novels, this collection of short stories is where you really see his talent for character development and setting the stage for connection to a storyline. A story can have immense impact even with few words, and these are prime examples. That I connected with every single one of these stories makes it a 5-star read for me as usually there is a humdinger or two in any collection. Not the case at all with this book.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

[Luv2TrvlLuvBks · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this book was not in my usual wheelhouse, it was an unexpected surprise.

In a collection of poignant, short stories, this author manages to elicit strong emotions from his readers. Set in Texas, stories range from the sale of a car to questionable motives of a man for his son’s young girlfriend, the author memorably tells stories in small spaces leaving large emotions.

This ARC was provided by the publisher, Random House , via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

#EncounterswithUnexpectedAnimals #NetGalley

[Keith Pilapil Lesmeister · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of stories by one of my favorite writers. These stories feature down-on-their luck characters who want more from life, but they're not always sure how to navigate those desires and decisions. These stories feature blue-collar characters, parent/children situations, skateboarding aficionados, animals (as the title would suggest), and more. Johnston's prose is at once propulsive and sensitively rendered. He has an exquisite eye for details, and an impressive ear for dialogue. A true master of the short story form. Highest recommendation.

[James B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the ebook. This is a short story collection that takes us all over Texas. Children trying to figure out how to grow up, parents trying to connect with their kids while keeping them safe, and even an ex wife who asks her ex husband to stop by and then all these animals. A possible snake haunts one story, a baby alligator shows up in another and it is Texas, so horses are never far away, both broken and gloriously wild.

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

• Paradeability- 3/5
• Encounters With Unexpected Animals- 1/5
• Soldier of Fortune- 3/5
• Palomino- 2/5
• Dixon- 2/5
• Young Life- 2/5
• Playing the Ghost- 2
• Miss McElroy- 2
• The Beginning of Wisdom- 2
• Time of the Preacher- 2
• Caiman- 2
• Half of What Atlee Rouse Knows About Horses- 2

Overall, I just don't think this author is for me. Some of the stories were.better written than most of the others. And I felt like a lot of them were too short and pointless.

[Katherina Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes I like short stories, sometimes I don't. However, this time I didn't. I think this selection of stories is meant for someone who is moved by prose or likes to look for a meaning. Since these stories really had no road for me to follow, they did not appeal. I think this will appeal to others, probably someone who likes to savor the the meandering path of poetry and hidden meaning. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the complementary ARC. This review is my own opinion.

[lori pennington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the free book in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this collection of 12 short stories! The setting for all of the stories is Texas, which as a Texan, I loved. I found all of the short stories well written and appropriately paced as the characters navigate the complexities of love, loss, and the search for human connection. A wonderful read that is different!

[Patricia Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

most stories set in Texas. most are about marginalized children. kids who eat halloween candies for dinner. kids who have to watch their elderly alheimer grandmother. kids who have friends next door who "live better" than them. most of the most interesting is a story about a little kid who suffers life changing burns. and finds out that the kid's mother is not whom he thinks it is.

[Likestotravel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always awed by short story writers and their ability to so rapidly develop characters and situations. Encounters with Unexpected Animals is raw at times but builds a collection of touching tales about humans and their connections.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read this ARC.