What do you think?
Rate this book
Foreign Objects: A Short Story
A young outcast, his struggles to survive, and the crucial objects that come into his life.
10 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 24, 2015
About the author
Joshua Scribner
476 books35 followersJoshua Scribner is the author of the novels Mantis Nights, The Coma Lights and Nescata. His fiction won both second and fifth place in the 2008 Whispering Spirits Flash Fiction contest. Up to date information on his work can be found at joshuascribner.com. Joshua currently lives in Michigan with his wife and two daughters.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 20, 2023
This is now the tenth book by Joshua Scribner in the past couple of days. Therefore, this is my tenth review.
Another story of two brothers. Joel the younger child, the runt of the little; picked on and bullied where older brother Jacob encourages the violence and general bearings.
But Joel is a survivor.
On at least three occasions he faces down situations where is life was seriously threatened. For a change we seem to have encounter a benevolent spirit who provides the means to extricate him from near certain death.
What cost these opportune rescues? Has he already sold his soul? Could he become a more ruthless destructive personality?
Can Scribner pen a happy ending?
Another story of two brothers. Joel the younger child, the runt of the little; picked on and bullied where older brother Jacob encourages the violence and general bearings.
But Joel is a survivor.
On at least three occasions he faces down situations where is life was seriously threatened. For a change we seem to have encounter a benevolent spirit who provides the means to extricate him from near certain death.
What cost these opportune rescues? Has he already sold his soul? Could he become a more ruthless destructive personality?
Can Scribner pen a happy ending?
June 16, 2022
Paying attention can be the difference between life and death.
Joel, the main character, had a difficult childhood to say the least. When I first met him, I was a little concerned by how negatively he spun everything, but I soon learned he had a good reason for reacting the world that way. Terrible things kept happening to him for reasons that neither he nor the audience understood. Of course anyone would learn to become suspicious under those circumstances! Given these facts, it made sense for him to behave the way he did, although I never gave up hope that he’d have easier days to come.
The fantasy elements of the plot were subtle and were not revealed until very late in the game. I found myself wishing that the author had been a little more straightforward about where he was going with this portion of Joel’s life. It played such an important role in his development that I would have loved to see it explained better even though I understood why certain details really did need to be saved for the end. From the perspective of a reader who wasn’t entirely sure what I’d gotten myself into, though, I would have given this a much higher rating if a clue or two about the ending had been dropped in one of the first few scenes. Obviously, I don’t expect the same amount of world building in seven pages of fantasy as one would find in seventy or seven hundred, but a little more would have gone a long way.
I must admit to having mixed feelings about the beginning and middle of this story because of how violent it was. It took a little bit for the narrator to explain why he was sharing so many traumatic events from his life, but once he did everything clicked into place for me. I appreciated the way he reframed his memories after the revelation at the end, and I’d be quite curious to read a sequel if one is ever written.
Foreign Objects was a wild ride.
Joel, the main character, had a difficult childhood to say the least. When I first met him, I was a little concerned by how negatively he spun everything, but I soon learned he had a good reason for reacting the world that way. Terrible things kept happening to him for reasons that neither he nor the audience understood. Of course anyone would learn to become suspicious under those circumstances! Given these facts, it made sense for him to behave the way he did, although I never gave up hope that he’d have easier days to come.
The fantasy elements of the plot were subtle and were not revealed until very late in the game. I found myself wishing that the author had been a little more straightforward about where he was going with this portion of Joel’s life. It played such an important role in his development that I would have loved to see it explained better even though I understood why certain details really did need to be saved for the end. From the perspective of a reader who wasn’t entirely sure what I’d gotten myself into, though, I would have given this a much higher rating if a clue or two about the ending had been dropped in one of the first few scenes. Obviously, I don’t expect the same amount of world building in seven pages of fantasy as one would find in seventy or seven hundred, but a little more would have gone a long way.
I must admit to having mixed feelings about the beginning and middle of this story because of how violent it was. It took a little bit for the narrator to explain why he was sharing so many traumatic events from his life, but once he did everything clicked into place for me. I appreciated the way he reframed his memories after the revelation at the end, and I’d be quite curious to read a sequel if one is ever written.
Foreign Objects was a wild ride.
May 10, 2024
“You can crawl in there on your own, or I’ll cut you up into little pieces and put you in.”
Joel was awkward at age 8. Not the cutest kid. Not like his older brother, Jacob. All the girls want Jacob, and all the guys wanna hang with him.
Jacob is a few years older. Very good-looking. Hates and ridicules his younger brother, bestowing upon him the moniker “Joel the Troll.”
Joel is teased, bullied, and beaten incessantly.
Shawn Johnson comes to their farmhouse one day. A friend of Jacob’s, Shawn has the eyes of a stone-cold killer. Total psychopath. Despises Joel.
Attack. White stone.
Even at 11, Joel is still, admittedly, a weird-looking kid.
Jacob’s hostility and their mother’s neglect cause Joel to be on his own a lot. Out late one night, he’s abducted. The knife.
And so the pattern develops. Joel is often attacked, but when he’s in mortal danger, he is…provided for…
Ridiculed and ostracized due to his looks—and his handsome, popular brother’s fatwa—Joel is very much a solitary loner.
The stone…the blade…the gun.
Joel sticks to math and computers to avoid being picked on. Smart kid.
Awesome ending. Triumphant.
I’ll remain humble on the inside, and wait for the next object to come.
Joel was awkward at age 8. Not the cutest kid. Not like his older brother, Jacob. All the girls want Jacob, and all the guys wanna hang with him.
Jacob is a few years older. Very good-looking. Hates and ridicules his younger brother, bestowing upon him the moniker “Joel the Troll.”
Joel is teased, bullied, and beaten incessantly.
Shawn Johnson comes to their farmhouse one day. A friend of Jacob’s, Shawn has the eyes of a stone-cold killer. Total psychopath. Despises Joel.
Attack. White stone.
Even at 11, Joel is still, admittedly, a weird-looking kid.
Jacob’s hostility and their mother’s neglect cause Joel to be on his own a lot. Out late one night, he’s abducted. The knife.
And so the pattern develops. Joel is often attacked, but when he’s in mortal danger, he is…provided for…
Ridiculed and ostracized due to his looks—and his handsome, popular brother’s fatwa—Joel is very much a solitary loner.
The stone…the blade…the gun.
Joel sticks to math and computers to avoid being picked on. Smart kid.
Awesome ending. Triumphant.
I’ll remain humble on the inside, and wait for the next object to come.
February 22, 2022
Patterns of surprises
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews