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Everyone Wants To Be Ambassador to France
A seagull, a goat, and a teenage boy enter into a bizarre love triangle that leaves one of them dead and the other two changed forever. A grief-stricken astronaut quits NASA to paint pictures of the moon. A lonely scientist creates stars in his basement and becomes enraged when he discovers that one of his stars harbors life. An eighteenth-century British aristocrat adopts two teenage girls and absconds with them to France, determined to raise one of them to become his perfect wife. By turns humorous and heartbreaking, this debut collection offers weird and wonderful stories that illuminate the hidden truths of life.
- GenresShort Stories
160 pages, Paperback
First published September 8, 2015
About the author
Bryan Hurt
7 books30 followersBryan Hurt is the author of Everyone Wants to Be Ambassador to France, winner of the Starcherone Prize for Innovative Fiction. His fiction and essays have been published in The American Reader, The Kenyon Review, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The New England Review, Tin House, and TriQuarterly. He lives in Colorado.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 6, 2017
Warning of bias: Bryan Hurt is a professor at my college, and I'm currently in one of his classes. I already know him from my personal interactions as brilliant, funny, and warm. So, it comes as no surprise to me that his work is brilliant, funny, and warm. To me, it doesn't feel like bias, but I figured I would tell people reading my reviews just to be fair.
Another work of indie fiction that I've been blown away by. This is a series of short fiction (some VERY short--a page of two) that moves from the serious, comical, historical, to all three at once. We move from scathing commentary on the suburbs of America to a retelling of the moon landing. All sharp, spare, and focused on the personal. The stories remind me of how he runs his classes-- simply ask yourself "what does this character want?" to get yourself moving with thoughts about this or that short story. Some are more personal and seem to be his personal reflections; I found that the shorter ones have an even heavier emotional punch, although most end that way (as any good short story will). Honestly, I enjoyed this short story collection more than a lot of other, more glossy, well-known short story collections I've read.
I actually laughed out loud and stopped to read passages to my boyfriend. I NEVER do this. When reviewers say they laughed and cried, I don't believe them. I take it more as an indicator of their emotions while reading. I actually laughed and then almost cried at the last story. I'll show you the piece that almost had me in tears; it's fantastic and it's representative of the other gut-wrenching uber-short pieces:
"I'm not that good with words, actually. My son has two words, maybe two-and-a-half. He's got mama and papa and sometimes it sounds like he's saying hi. He's way better with his words than I am with mine. Each time he uses his words he makes me feel something. One hundred percent of the time his words dig straight into my heart.
'Tell me something about love,' I say when it's just the two of us. My wife's at yoga and the dog is napping and we've played with all his toys and I don't want to turn on Sesame Street.
He says, 'Mama.'
'That's good,' I say. 'Wow you nailed it. Now tell me something else. Something funny, something that makes you laugh.'
He says, 'Papa.'
I tickle him and kiss his head.
'Great,' I say. 'Now tell me what you want. What do you want more than anything in the world? Sky's the limit. Name it and it's yours.'
He lifts his arms up for me to hold him.
He says, 'Hi.'"
This is the last story, and oh boy. Also, it may be an even larger gut punch because of everything that happened before. I was already accustomed to the really dry, spare dialogue style and this section seemed perfectly executed, especially in relation to everything I'd read before. Read this. It's well worth your time.
Another work of indie fiction that I've been blown away by. This is a series of short fiction (some VERY short--a page of two) that moves from the serious, comical, historical, to all three at once. We move from scathing commentary on the suburbs of America to a retelling of the moon landing. All sharp, spare, and focused on the personal. The stories remind me of how he runs his classes-- simply ask yourself "what does this character want?" to get yourself moving with thoughts about this or that short story. Some are more personal and seem to be his personal reflections; I found that the shorter ones have an even heavier emotional punch, although most end that way (as any good short story will). Honestly, I enjoyed this short story collection more than a lot of other, more glossy, well-known short story collections I've read.
I actually laughed out loud and stopped to read passages to my boyfriend. I NEVER do this. When reviewers say they laughed and cried, I don't believe them. I take it more as an indicator of their emotions while reading. I actually laughed and then almost cried at the last story. I'll show you the piece that almost had me in tears; it's fantastic and it's representative of the other gut-wrenching uber-short pieces:
"I'm not that good with words, actually. My son has two words, maybe two-and-a-half. He's got mama and papa and sometimes it sounds like he's saying hi. He's way better with his words than I am with mine. Each time he uses his words he makes me feel something. One hundred percent of the time his words dig straight into my heart.
'Tell me something about love,' I say when it's just the two of us. My wife's at yoga and the dog is napping and we've played with all his toys and I don't want to turn on Sesame Street.
He says, 'Mama.'
'That's good,' I say. 'Wow you nailed it. Now tell me something else. Something funny, something that makes you laugh.'
He says, 'Papa.'
I tickle him and kiss his head.
'Great,' I say. 'Now tell me what you want. What do you want more than anything in the world? Sky's the limit. Name it and it's yours.'
He lifts his arms up for me to hold him.
He says, 'Hi.'"
This is the last story, and oh boy. Also, it may be an even larger gut punch because of everything that happened before. I was already accustomed to the really dry, spare dialogue style and this section seemed perfectly executed, especially in relation to everything I'd read before. Read this. It's well worth your time.
December 28, 2019
I came to this small collection of short stories via an anthology Bryan Hurt edited called Watchlist: 32 Stories by Persons of Interest (which is also good)
His stories are touching, charming and funny.
Worth consideration
His stories are touching, charming and funny.
Worth consideration
December 8, 2019
honestly it was just okay. if u want super weird stories like the summary suggests, well... look elsewhere because he kind of makes the scenarios mundane
November 6, 2024
These stories - just vignettes, some of them - are chips of opal, multicolored and multifaceted, and you will find yourself carrying them around in your pockets for some time, or maybe noticing them glinting in nooks as you go about your life. Hurt's prose is deadpan - some of the writing is more like standup than prose - but also fantastical, coming at the emotions from unexpected angles and with sudden and delightful changes of direction. The central and longest piece, "Vicissitudes, CA", is a particular joy, while "Good With Words" and "Panic Attack" punch out of all proportion to their weight. I've a feeling that what Bryan Hurt does is extremely hard to do, which is why no-one else is doing it.
March 24, 2018
Absolutely loved this. I got the chance to sit in on an AWP panel that Bryan Hurt was on and he was a super chill and funny guy, so I bought his book at the book fair. I'm really glad I did - super funny, just weird enough that I loved it.
February 16, 2019
Nice collection of quirky, concisely written, and, in many cases, moving short stories.
April 3, 2026
A delightful and surprising short story collection.
February 1, 2019
8.5/10
This is a fun short story collection! Each tale is different; there are historical elements as well as sci-fi ones, believable yarns rooted firmly in reality and others that suspend your disbelief in truly amusing ways. Some of the standouts for me are: “The Bilingual School,” “Moonless,” and “The Fourth Man.”
Hurt’s narration is quite conversational and unique. He knows how to tell an absorbing, complete story, even if it only spans a few pages. He’s funny and emotional and strange, often all at once. And his ability to evoke such feeling in such succinct works is remarkable.
In the end, this book is great. The humor is unusual, dry, sometimes dark, but always well-written. The characters are vivid, the writing excellent and distinctive. Overall, this collection is innovative and minimalist, intriguing and odd, and wholly entertaining.
This is a fun short story collection! Each tale is different; there are historical elements as well as sci-fi ones, believable yarns rooted firmly in reality and others that suspend your disbelief in truly amusing ways. Some of the standouts for me are: “The Bilingual School,” “Moonless,” and “The Fourth Man.”
Hurt’s narration is quite conversational and unique. He knows how to tell an absorbing, complete story, even if it only spans a few pages. He’s funny and emotional and strange, often all at once. And his ability to evoke such feeling in such succinct works is remarkable.
In the end, this book is great. The humor is unusual, dry, sometimes dark, but always well-written. The characters are vivid, the writing excellent and distinctive. Overall, this collection is innovative and minimalist, intriguing and odd, and wholly entertaining.
November 24, 2015
Strong collection of inventive, minimalist tales from Bryan Hurt. My faves were: The Sadness of Tycho Brahe's Moose, The Fourth Man, and especially, Spooky Action At A Distance, and Moonless.
November 29, 2015
Great book
October 18, 2015
Loved it
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews