Captives

by Angela Meyer

Short, intense and mesmerizing. Read these very short stories on a train, a tram, a bus, or waiting in the check out line. Captives by Angela Meyer will fit into your pocket, your handbag or tucked into the cover of your ipad. Captives opens with a husband pointing his gun at his wife. There’s a woman who hears ‘the hiss of Beelzebub behind people’s voices’, a photographer who captures the desire to suicide, a man locked in a toilet who may never get out, a couple who grow young, and a prisoner who learns to swallow like a python. Movie stars appear throughout reminding us that people live on through Paul Newman, Anthony Perkins, Divine, and a girl who died in a car crash are all caught eternally on film. There’s a touch of Annie Proulx in these stories, the way a lonely death can creep up on you and the way our sexuality will not be denied, though we may try to cover it up.

'Angela Meyer's Captives is a collection of shimmering story-wafers, each of which hovers at exactly the sweet spot of just enough. Individually piercing, Meyer's fiction-slices fit together like the best poetry does, amplifying what came before and chiming with what comes after.' - Tania Hershman, author of My Mother Was An Upright Fictions, and The White Road And Other Stories.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Australia

74 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 30, 2014

About the author

Angela Meyer’s debut novel A Superior Spectre (Ventura Press, ANZ & Saraband, UK) was shortlisted for an Aurealis Award, the MUD Literary Prize, an Australian Book Industry Award, and the Readings Prize for New Australian Writing. She is also the author of a novella, Joan Smokes, which won the inaugural Mslexia Novella Award (UK), and a book of flash fiction, Captives. Her work has been widely published in magazines, journals and newspapers. She has worked in bookstores, as a book reviewer, in a whisky bar, and as commissioning editor and then publisher at Echo Publishing, where she was responsible for award-winning, internationally published and bestselling works. She now works as a freelance structural and story editor and consultant. She grew up in Northern NSW and lives in Melbourne.

Reviews

[Gerard Elson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully produced (and aptly petite) collection of microfictions running a deeply weird gamut—from haunting, oneiric and elegant story-wisps, to a quasi-academic consideration of Anthony Perkins' ass. In both format and content, Meyer's fiction debut might best be described as a prayerbook, of sorts, for the paranoid, the hopeful, the hypervigilant, the trapped.

[Debbie Robson · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1996 I visited London and discovered all those wonderful little Penguin 60s books for sale for only 1 pound. I collected as many as I could and since that time I have had a fond affection for tiny books. Captives by Angela Meyer is one such book, beautifully produced. With illustrations and a lovely clear print, it is a joy to handle and read.
There is a lot to ponder on in this collection, some stories I connected with immediately such as The day before the wedding, my favourite story Glitch, A cage went in search of a bird, The tightrope walker’s daughter, We’ve always been close and the last stunning flash -A momentary lapse of reason.
Others I wondered about. Had I missed something but I do tend to overthink and with flash I believe our first impression should be the true interpretation. A lot to enjoy for such a little book and the owl from Glitch still lingers. Thank you Angela.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a small but perfectly formed gem of a book. Angela Myer is well known as a serious literary blogger, but with these tiny, mysterious, often haunting short short stories she shows herself to be a talented writer of fiction as well. Can't wait to see what she does next. And it's a beautiful object, too, nicely printed and illustrated.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've tagged this collection short stories but they're not really, they're flash fiction, a couple of stories only one paragraph long. This is a very demanding form, because everything has to be pruned back so that all that's left is a sudden impact. There is not much room for plot, setting or character, and dialogue is risky. This makes it essential to leave gaps in the reading because otherwise the stories lose that capacity to surprise. It also makes it very difficult for the author to create anything memorable, but I think this is not the intention. This is fiction to read while you strap-hang between tram-stops. You could read it on your phone...


Meyer has played cleverly on the different meanings of captivity, from the macabre 'Thirteen Tiles' which features literal captivity, to captivities of the heart. And these captives are not all lovers; there's a disturbing one called 'Empty Cradle' which features a woman who is captive to maternal longings...

As is so often my feeling when I venture into short fiction territory (which I do very rarely) I found myself wondering what kind of storyteller Meyer might be if she expanded her craft into a novel. These stories have a quirkiness, a sense of the macabre, an awareness of the human heart and links to everyday life but they also have attention to the menace that pervades our lives in the tabloid era. I do hope she doesn't join the crime-writers brigade - there's far too many of those already IMO...

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absorbing little micro fictions, some with end-noted historical origins, showing good diversity of style and subject matter.

[Lauren Mccusker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains multiple very-short-stories, known as microfiction or flash fiction. This was my first real foray into flash fiction, although I've read extremely short stories in other collections before.
Overall, these stories were dark, creepy, but with a twisted humour...an excellent mix. Some were fantastic all on their own. Some I didn't quite comprehend. Some I thought would be great fleshed out a bit more, made into a longer story. The language used is wonderful and made for a fluid, entertaining read.
I think this collection is one that I'll return to again. The stories are so short that there's not much context in them. They tend to present a scenario and a few characters and leave it at that, without much explanation, haiku-like. I think this leaves them very open to reader interpretation (which I like) and gives them almost a meditative quality. I think that my second read will be different. And I think my third read will be very different again. Although this book is physically tiny and could be easily read in an hour or two, I think it's best to space it out a bit and let the stories sit with you for a while before attempting the next one.

[Ashley Hay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't know very much about flash fiction until I found Angela Meyer – these microcosmic tales are like a beautiful hybrid of poetry and purpose, the kinds of words that you can read in a gulp but that you need to sit with for some time beyond their final full stop, feeling the full weight and potential of the enormities that they actually hold. It's very first piece, "The Day Before the Wedding", is a masterpiece.

[Timea Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting because of the genre, in this book are 'microfictions'. A lot shorter than short stories, some only being 100 words. Some of the stories were really good, others were either too short or too vague to enjoy or understand. Overall, enjoyable but left no lasting impression.

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tiny exquisite little dark stories.

[Kate Walton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tiny stories in a tiny book. A great read.

[Edacheeky · Rating 3 out of 5]

★★★☆☆ 3/5
Firstly, I would like to thank Angela Meyer and her publisher Inkerman & Blunt for sending me this book.

Captives is a short collection of dark stories of fiction. I enjoyed reading it more than I expected.
I adore the way Meyer writes - it captivates you (see what I did there) - and the stories were highly imaginative and interesting.

It's just that I didn't understand some of the stories. Some endings were a bit confusing no matter how many times I reread them. Certain stories felt like they were for adults (and I'm not just talking about sexual content) which also made them harder to understand and relate to. However there were stories that I really liked such as The Day Before the Wedding, I Can Hear Music, Apocalypse, and A Momentary Lapse of Reason.

I don't think that dark fictions are good for naïve teens. In fact, they're dangerous for naïve teens. Overall, I still enjoyed reading Captives, but I think I would have liked Captives more - and it would be more appropriate for teens - if it had been more sleepover/sitting-around-the-campfire style horror/dark stories.

[Michael Daaboul · Rating 1 out of 5]

Captives microfictions was odd. I wanted to like this book due to its form factor and how well presented it is, but through some interesting prose, it crumbled.

Hard to understand, confusing, lacking any real emotion (not the subject of the stories, but the way it is written), I have no idea how this could even remotely be compared to Kafka, at all!

You will find yourself rereading and going back to see if you missed something, trying to find some connection to these stories. Instead it tries too hard, overblown and inflated.

Whatever this book was trying to do, it didn't do it for me. Some reviewers comparisons to Kafka left me even more confused than the content found in this book.

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[Ann Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first experience reading micro fiction (or flash fiction as it is otherwise known). It requires a different kind of reading because the stories are so short. You need to flesh it out with your own imagination, which can be great or frustrating, or a little of both. With some of the stories I was amazed at what the author could achieve with so few words. Others didn't really make sense to me, but perhaps they might after more than one reading. Overall, it was worth the read, and I think I'll read more micro fiction in the future.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

I cannot pretend that I understood every single one of these stories, but I was fascinated nevertheless. I love this form of storytelling for the reason that it demands that the reader bring so much to the telling, and I experienced that many times while reading this. Plus, it's so delightfully small that it's a pleasure to hold and so short that I will read it several times. Maybe then I'll understand them all.

[B.T. Hogan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretentious garbage. Nonsensical prose, I think the author figured that ignorant readers would attach meaning to these stories where there is nothing of the sort. Looks like some have taken the bait.

[Harvard · Rating 3 out of 5]

With Captives, Angela Meyer goes all Kafka on our asses. The stories designed to shock or confuse get old fast, but there are a few great examples where 500 words are enough for Meyer to describe a character's entire lifetime.

[Georgia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very short book, filled with very short stories.
I was talking to a bookstore owner and told him im especially impressed by short fiction and how every word counts. He gave me this. And wow.
I particularly enjoyed the very last story. It is very poignant and memorable.

[Guy Salvidge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brief, beguiling, enigmatic.

[Sean Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of flash fiction that's in places quite brilliant, if a little uneven and definitely too short - but I suppose that suits the form. :-)

[Jennifer Storer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good first story and indeed all of them.