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When You Cross That Line
A chapbook flash fiction collection inspired by Florida Man stories.
41 pages, Chapbook
8 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 26, 2015
I loved the story about the guy with the samurai sword, best. Some other real jewels in this book. Most of them about animals whether they are animals slipped out of the everglade or humans slipped out of the trailer park. All in all, this chap as a whole is really wonderfully done. The design and layout and the story selection, even the paper that's used. As for the author, Sam Slaughter has a knack for tight writing, level headed, and he speaks here time and time in the familiar tones of Hemingway, Raymond Carver, etc with a kick of 'about to go off the track Internet weird'. Here's a story collection written next to a police scanner with a window open to hear the crickets outside. Here's a story collection about people lost on the fringes, caught up in misunderstandings, corned by trouble. The author has an idea what the element of surprise can do for a slice of life snapshot of the seemingly mundane and the results are often shattering/jarring enough to stir up a thousand white birds hiding in the tall swamp grass.
August 13, 2015
Sam Slaughter hits the mark here with his rough-edged, quirky-at-times, but brilliantly composed short stories. If this collection is an indicator of what Sam Slaughter has in store for us with future books, then we all need to stand back and watch the fireworks. Here is an up and coming author to put on your radar and be sure to be the first in line for.
August 21, 2015
This is one of those "Big things . . .Small Packagages" deals people talk about. Slaughter's the real deal and these five stories in this Prized winning chapbook collection prove it. "When You Cross That Line" the book title and first story alone is worth the price of admission. Set in Florida it's written in the vein of Jim Thompson or Thomas Berger where the main character, minding his own business, is confronted by evil in the guise of implied threats escalating to real potential mayhem. I swear I heard "Dueling Banjos" playing in the backgroung as I read this story.
It takes a certain mindset to write in a way that has the reader feeling the intense discomfort of the situation and Slaughter does it again and again such as in "Neighborhood Watch" where a simple premise of a couple looking for a rent provides that same escalation of tension springing out instantly and from an unlikely place.
Sam Slaughter's got a great writer's name and his writing lives up to it and more. This debut chapbook was the winner of the 2014 Best of There Will Be Words Prize.
Paul Beckman
It takes a certain mindset to write in a way that has the reader feeling the intense discomfort of the situation and Slaughter does it again and again such as in "Neighborhood Watch" where a simple premise of a couple looking for a rent provides that same escalation of tension springing out instantly and from an unlikely place.
Sam Slaughter's got a great writer's name and his writing lives up to it and more. This debut chapbook was the winner of the 2014 Best of There Will Be Words Prize.
Paul Beckman
August 20, 2015
I read this collection over coffee one Saturday morning this summer. If the caffeine hadn't jolted me to life, Sam Slaughter's stories would have done the job. Slaughter has a knack here for capturing the nature of the Florida Man phenomenon with flash fiction that is at once ludicrous and grounded—just like Florida itself. He punctuates unsettling realities with humor in a way that makes you wish there was more once the stories are through. For that very reason, I excitedly anticipate what he'll bring to the table next.
August 9, 2015
In this hors d'oeuvre of flash fiction, Sam Slaughter offers a delightful taste that leaves the reader hungry for more. With a hint of Denis Johnson and a sprinkle of Flannery O'Connor, Slaughter's stories capture the full flavor of Florida in all it's bizarre richness. Eat up!
(I ordered this chapbook from Powell's Book Store online for $5 and there were only two copies left of the original print run of 215)
(I ordered this chapbook from Powell's Book Store online for $5 and there were only two copies left of the original print run of 215)
September 7, 2015
Sam Slaughter gives us an all too brief but bittersweet look into the troubled lives of Florida’s finest. We got crazy old men swinging samurai swords, bears (alligators, maybe? Can't recall) eating people, dudes getting into fistfights at Applebee’s, and other tales of ordinary madness via the sunshine state. Definite Harry Crews-cum-Raymond Carver vibe happening which makes the stories go down like a cold beer on a hot day. Got my eye on this Slaughter guy, for sure.
November 20, 2015
I don't know if it's from a somewhat nightmare vacation long ago as my main experience with Florida, but I do have a certain "Florida Man" obsession and was really ready for these stories. How could I not dig them? Always seeing headlines and thinking there must be a story there. Slaughter found those stories, writing in tight, clean lines, managing to work in some good surprise now and then. It's some good writing. This is a very short little book, but still a satisfying and engaging one.
August 20, 2015
I wrote this book, so in order for it to not show up on my "To-Read" shelf, I've acknowledged that I've read it. While I am in love with the book, obviously, you should take my review with a grain of salt (the rest of which should be rimming a margarita). I recommend you read it, however, and let me know what you think.
April 15, 2016
The short line-up of characters in Sam Slaughter’s collection lead lives you’d rather not lead yourself, and therein lies the charm.
The unnamed narrator of When You Cross That Line is moving to Florida when he has a run-in with an alligator salesman. The episode turns from odd to ugly, leaving the narrator in search of a swamp, hopeless of finding normalcy in his new adoptive state.
Next James and Grunt get out their power equipment to take care of a facial tattoo, and later the sword-wielding Mr. Gordon strips off his kimono in the middle of the street, forgetting to take his sword with him when he’s shooed back inside.
I empathized most with World War II vet Paul, who fought for your freedoms and will gladly smash your face in if you abuse them. Stupid mid-day drunken salesmen.
The final story, A Bear in the Trunk, works least well. But there’s a guy named Tonka and a drug dealer named Clyde who gives away beer at Gary’s Saloon. Again we aren’t privy to the narrator’s name but it hardly matters: things don’t turn out too well for him, and I’m not convinced the ending really works. I’m not convinced it doesn’t.
And that’s the nature of this short collection of clear-eyed writing. The prose is under control, the characters are unusual, and the reader is grateful to observe from afar: “I bet none of your northern friends have ever held a gator. Be the first.” He pushed on the word northern like it was an intruder.
Strong writing about wart-covered characters, straight out the swamps of Central Florida.
The unnamed narrator of When You Cross That Line is moving to Florida when he has a run-in with an alligator salesman. The episode turns from odd to ugly, leaving the narrator in search of a swamp, hopeless of finding normalcy in his new adoptive state.
Next James and Grunt get out their power equipment to take care of a facial tattoo, and later the sword-wielding Mr. Gordon strips off his kimono in the middle of the street, forgetting to take his sword with him when he’s shooed back inside.
I empathized most with World War II vet Paul, who fought for your freedoms and will gladly smash your face in if you abuse them. Stupid mid-day drunken salesmen.
The final story, A Bear in the Trunk, works least well. But there’s a guy named Tonka and a drug dealer named Clyde who gives away beer at Gary’s Saloon. Again we aren’t privy to the narrator’s name but it hardly matters: things don’t turn out too well for him, and I’m not convinced the ending really works. I’m not convinced it doesn’t.
And that’s the nature of this short collection of clear-eyed writing. The prose is under control, the characters are unusual, and the reader is grateful to observe from afar: “I bet none of your northern friends have ever held a gator. Be the first.” He pushed on the word northern like it was an intruder.
Strong writing about wart-covered characters, straight out the swamps of Central Florida.
January 18, 2016
This is a lovely chapbook from There Will Be Words, Sam Slaughter's first and it's a great entry into his work. Highly original, and compressed fiction, I really loved the story about the samurai best of all. These five stories are fun, and leave you wanting to read more of Slaughter's work. He is a writer to watch, and check out his writing in online journals, also.
July 6, 2016
Millennial blogger needs to slow down and consider each line. Revision is essential to writing. But try telling this to a Millennial.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews