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The In-Betweens
“Matthew Simmons has never misused a word in his life, or at least that’s how it feels. His prose manages to be economical and exact, while at the same time suggesting a broader universe that ripples out from every sentence.”
–The Stranger
“The stories Matthew Simmons tells in The In-Betweens are strange delights. I love the way he writes, between the unexpected and inevitable, the very narrow place where comedy and tragedy both live, and I love the weird little worlds that first appear alien but later open up to reveal the actual ache and joy inside. It is always thrilling to read a writer that fears nothing, deftly wielding words as though their ultimate shape was inevitable, as though it took no work at all. The In-Betweens is a really fun and meaningful book and I am happy I was alive to read it.”
–David Connerley Nahm, author of Ancient Oceans of Central Kentucky
“Rarely is a writer so recklessly and deliciously weird also so warm, so approachable, and so —well, lovable. To praise Matthew Simmons’ work for its tremendous invention, its hilarity, its joyful incongruity is easy enough. These stories possess all of these qualities in abundance. But they also do the thing that Wallace Stevens once insisted that fiction should: they give pleasure. More of it than I have received from any contemporary collection in a long, long time.”
–Matthew Specktor, author of American Dream Machine
“The wit and intelligence in Matthew Simmons’ stories are equally matched by a bold re-imagining of structure and form.”
–Krys Lee, author of How I Became a North Korean
–The Stranger
“The stories Matthew Simmons tells in The In-Betweens are strange delights. I love the way he writes, between the unexpected and inevitable, the very narrow place where comedy and tragedy both live, and I love the weird little worlds that first appear alien but later open up to reveal the actual ache and joy inside. It is always thrilling to read a writer that fears nothing, deftly wielding words as though their ultimate shape was inevitable, as though it took no work at all. The In-Betweens is a really fun and meaningful book and I am happy I was alive to read it.”
–David Connerley Nahm, author of Ancient Oceans of Central Kentucky
“Rarely is a writer so recklessly and deliciously weird also so warm, so approachable, and so —well, lovable. To praise Matthew Simmons’ work for its tremendous invention, its hilarity, its joyful incongruity is easy enough. These stories possess all of these qualities in abundance. But they also do the thing that Wallace Stevens once insisted that fiction should: they give pleasure. More of it than I have received from any contemporary collection in a long, long time.”
–Matthew Specktor, author of American Dream Machine
“The wit and intelligence in Matthew Simmons’ stories are equally matched by a bold re-imagining of structure and form.”
–Krys Lee, author of How I Became a North Korean
216 pages, Paperback
Published October 31, 2016
About the author
Matthew Simmons
11 books65 followersI live in Seattle. I write. I edit the Instant Future eBook series. I had a cat. I wrote for HTML Giant. I edited interviews for Hobart.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 27, 2016
I particularly liked the last two stories in the book. In both, Simmons hits his stride as both a stylist and absurdist, unafraid to unleash whatever strange thing might be stirring in the mind.
"Hide the house," is the line, for me, that stands out, but there are other, many other good ones.
"Hide the house," is the line, for me, that stands out, but there are other, many other good ones.
Displaying 1 of 1 review