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Almost Deadly, Almost Good
Ah, behold thy Sins and Virtues! Both get poor suckers in hot water all the time. ALMOST DEADLY, ALMOST GOOD explores how human nature is just a flip-floppy beautiful mess, and the difference between good and bad is near impossible to discern. With skewed but compassionate perspective, Alice Kaltman gives us sinners and saints to love equally, each one perfectly flawed, just like the rest of us.
"I adore this collection. Alice Kaltman has outdone herself. Ever the sharp-eyed witness to the human condition, here she gives us fourteen perfectly penned short stories: half in the first section entitled "The Sins" and the rest, contrastingly, in "The Virtues." But lo and behold, there's really no contrast at all. Kaltman's people are neither entirely good nor entirely bad. They're layered, complex, flawed and fractious, and 100% relatable. We get them because we are them. Story after brilliantly written story, we're shown our own fears, our own foibles, our own forbidden desires, and tenderest heartaches. These are stories of human beings under pressure, at their most "changeable" moments, and we readers can't look away. Nor do we want to. With candor, wisdom, and humor, almost deadly, almost good reminds us to be good to ourselves and to each other for we are all at once, beautiful and aching and ridiculous."
– Kathy Fish, author of Wild Life: Collected Works from 2003-2018.
"With passion and wit, Alice Kaltman nails what it means to be human in Almost Deadly, Almost Good, her brilliant new collection centering on the vices and virtues that give shape to our lives. These fourteen stories crackle with energy, each a live wire ready to give the reader a jolt of both surprise and recognition. In Kaltman's capable hands, we're all almost deadly, almost good and fully better for it."
– Julie Innis, author of Three Squares a Day with Occasional Torture
"Alice Kaltman’s Almost Deadly, Almost Good gives rise to the philosophical contemplations of of virtue and sin—blending the two ideas—giving us reason to believe that perhaps, one is no different than the other depending on the situation. Consider each story as an apartment—then, the linked collection as a whole, is an apartment complex with thin and papery walls, leading us to secrets which were never meant to be whispered, and as we find ourselves judging these characters, Kaltman’s words, in turn, our judging us at the same time, thus bringing forth one of our most common elements of human nature—our flaws. It it through these mirrors, that, maybe, just maybe, there is a chance of redemption and peace—just a bit of light to keep us going. Almost Deadly, Almost Good is both a gritty and tender exploration of all us—haunting and enlightening."
– Shome Dasgupta, author of Spectacles
"Alice Kaltman is our most human of writers, crafting work which brings insight, empathy and respect to the confusing lives we lead and wish we could make sense of. With almost deadly, almost good, her dazzling new collection of intersecting stories, Kaltman continues to do what she does so beautifully, imbuing her characters with lives, loves, triumphs and tragedies that feel real and true, while leaving her lucky readers exhilarated and longing for more."
– Ben Tanzer, author of UPSTATE, Be Cool, Lost in Space & Orphans
"In Almost Deadly, Almost Good, Alice Kaltman's stories embody the angel and devil we all carry on our shoulders. She understands the muckiness of existing in an imperfect world, and that, try as we might, we're always just a hair away from getting things right or wrong. These stories dazzle with Kaltman's wit and rich, complex characters who you'll want to hug and scream at in equal turns, because they remind us of the best and worst parts of ourselves, all the mistakes we've ever made and all the good we wish we'd done.”
– Chris Gonzales, author of I’m Not Hungry But I Could Eat
"I adore this collection. Alice Kaltman has outdone herself. Ever the sharp-eyed witness to the human condition, here she gives us fourteen perfectly penned short stories: half in the first section entitled "The Sins" and the rest, contrastingly, in "The Virtues." But lo and behold, there's really no contrast at all. Kaltman's people are neither entirely good nor entirely bad. They're layered, complex, flawed and fractious, and 100% relatable. We get them because we are them. Story after brilliantly written story, we're shown our own fears, our own foibles, our own forbidden desires, and tenderest heartaches. These are stories of human beings under pressure, at their most "changeable" moments, and we readers can't look away. Nor do we want to. With candor, wisdom, and humor, almost deadly, almost good reminds us to be good to ourselves and to each other for we are all at once, beautiful and aching and ridiculous."
– Kathy Fish, author of Wild Life: Collected Works from 2003-2018.
"With passion and wit, Alice Kaltman nails what it means to be human in Almost Deadly, Almost Good, her brilliant new collection centering on the vices and virtues that give shape to our lives. These fourteen stories crackle with energy, each a live wire ready to give the reader a jolt of both surprise and recognition. In Kaltman's capable hands, we're all almost deadly, almost good and fully better for it."
– Julie Innis, author of Three Squares a Day with Occasional Torture
"Alice Kaltman’s Almost Deadly, Almost Good gives rise to the philosophical contemplations of of virtue and sin—blending the two ideas—giving us reason to believe that perhaps, one is no different than the other depending on the situation. Consider each story as an apartment—then, the linked collection as a whole, is an apartment complex with thin and papery walls, leading us to secrets which were never meant to be whispered, and as we find ourselves judging these characters, Kaltman’s words, in turn, our judging us at the same time, thus bringing forth one of our most common elements of human nature—our flaws. It it through these mirrors, that, maybe, just maybe, there is a chance of redemption and peace—just a bit of light to keep us going. Almost Deadly, Almost Good is both a gritty and tender exploration of all us—haunting and enlightening."
– Shome Dasgupta, author of Spectacles
"Alice Kaltman is our most human of writers, crafting work which brings insight, empathy and respect to the confusing lives we lead and wish we could make sense of. With almost deadly, almost good, her dazzling new collection of intersecting stories, Kaltman continues to do what she does so beautifully, imbuing her characters with lives, loves, triumphs and tragedies that feel real and true, while leaving her lucky readers exhilarated and longing for more."
– Ben Tanzer, author of UPSTATE, Be Cool, Lost in Space & Orphans
"In Almost Deadly, Almost Good, Alice Kaltman's stories embody the angel and devil we all carry on our shoulders. She understands the muckiness of existing in an imperfect world, and that, try as we might, we're always just a hair away from getting things right or wrong. These stories dazzle with Kaltman's wit and rich, complex characters who you'll want to hug and scream at in equal turns, because they remind us of the best and worst parts of ourselves, all the mistakes we've ever made and all the good we wish we'd done.”
– Chris Gonzales, author of I’m Not Hungry But I Could Eat
Paperback
Published November 22, 2022
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About the author
Alice Kaltman
9 books43 followersAs a young girl Alice longed to be a mermaid. Her idol sat demurely on the Chicken of the Sea tuna fish cans. She peeled labels off to save her image. Every night before bedtime Alice squeezed both legs in to one side of her pajama bottoms and shuffled around the house pretending she was as beautiful as the tuna fish mermaid.
Real mermaid-hood proved elusive, so Alice became a modern dancer instead. For over twenty years she worked with brilliant choreographers and performed in amazing places. And while she’s still paid to do the occasional pirouette, Alice also works as a Parenting Coach/Writer helping out moms and dads, and talking to kids also, about their (often annoying) parents.
But Alice is most at home when upside down and underwater. She’s been swimming her entire life, and surfing for the better part of adulthood. It’s no surprise that Wavehouse her forthcoming novel from Fitzroy Books is about a surfer. And maybe it is a bit about Alice, too.
Alice also writes fiction for adults. Her story collection Staggerwing is filled with oddballs and odd events. Her work appears in numerous journals including Hobart, Whiskey Paper, Joyland, and BULL: Men’s Fiction, and in the anthologies The Pleasure You Suffer and On Montauk. Most recently her story ‘Maid Service’ was selected as a semi-finalist for Best Small Fictions of 2017.
Alice splits her time between Brooklyn and Montauk, New York where she lives with her husband and daughter. She now wears her pajamas regular style.
Real mermaid-hood proved elusive, so Alice became a modern dancer instead. For over twenty years she worked with brilliant choreographers and performed in amazing places. And while she’s still paid to do the occasional pirouette, Alice also works as a Parenting Coach/Writer helping out moms and dads, and talking to kids also, about their (often annoying) parents.
But Alice is most at home when upside down and underwater. She’s been swimming her entire life, and surfing for the better part of adulthood. It’s no surprise that Wavehouse her forthcoming novel from Fitzroy Books is about a surfer. And maybe it is a bit about Alice, too.
Alice also writes fiction for adults. Her story collection Staggerwing is filled with oddballs and odd events. Her work appears in numerous journals including Hobart, Whiskey Paper, Joyland, and BULL: Men’s Fiction, and in the anthologies The Pleasure You Suffer and On Montauk. Most recently her story ‘Maid Service’ was selected as a semi-finalist for Best Small Fictions of 2017.
Alice splits her time between Brooklyn and Montauk, New York where she lives with her husband and daughter. She now wears her pajamas regular style.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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October 15, 2022Hilarious, surprising, heartfelt, a hard look at loneliness in some parts, and a truly compelling story collection. I love the game of CLUE that Kaltman has created, to see how the characters intersect. I also love that she's not afraid to GO THERE.
April 1, 2024
Reviewed by Daniel Hewitt on www.rowanglassworks.org.
Most of us are familiar with the concept of the seven deadly sins: gluttony, envy, wrath, lust, sloth, to name a few. Alice Kaltman embraces these sins—along with their virtuous counterparts—in her short story collection, Almost Deadly, Almost Good. She personifies the sins in her complex characters while exploring an equal number of virtues. Her stories depict the tragedies and triumphs of human nature. Characters embodying gluttony, envy, and wrath seem to be in a constant state of inner conflict and turmoil while those who practice kindness, humility, and patience have better outcomes.
Kaltman has cleverly woven some of her characters into multiple stories where they interact with other characters in surprising and unpredictable ways, paying homage to "the six degrees of separation,” that wonderful theory that proposes people are inextricably connected through a chain of acquaintances. This technique of writing brings richness and clarity to her characters by allowing us to read about them from the perspective of others.
Kaltman’s intersecting stories are shocking in their outcomes—sometimes ending in tragedy. She writes with such intensity and clarity of the flawed human condition that it’s difficult not to feel the raw emotions that her characters experience, such as Miriam’s betrayal in Lust where she develops a crush on her daughter’s middle-aged boyfriend and attempts to steal a kiss from him. He recoils in horror as his future mother-in-law crosses an unspoken boundary. In Sloth we meet Cecil Jones, a lonely, overweight man in his 50s, bereft of purpose, ambition, and friends. He quits his boring office job to travel the world living a self-indulgent life only to experience an existential crisis. While on a layover during his return home, a chance sighting of baby seals stirs something within him, luring him over the edge of a dangerous cliff to spend his final moments with them. His older sister Bonnie sheds light on his upbringing in Wrath where she recounts how her father used to beat her while Cecil cried and hugged her. When their mother left her abusive husband, Bonnie took on the maternal role and all that came with it, including taking care of Cecil.
If we find ourselves judging Kaltman’s characters too harshly, then perhaps that exposes the vice of self-righteousness in us, which is also a sin. Perhaps we identify with one or more of her characters; maybe we made the same choices they did and experienced the same consequences. We are all beautiful and flawed in some way. The lesson is judge not lest ye be judged!
The seven stories of virtue show us equally fascinating characters. In Kindness we see grief-stricken Beth jump off a cruise ship, believing she has seen her dead son on Monkey Island. A fellow passenger jumps off to go rescue her and the two women share a mutual understanding of the pain they have suffered. In Humility a pair of swan-shaped earrings captivates Doris, who has always lived a modest, humble life. She only wears the beautiful swan earrings when no one else can see and finds simple joy in how they make her feel inside. Even these touching stories of virtue show the complexities of these noble characters’ lives.
It’s not until we’ve read all of Kaltman’s 14 short stories together that we gain greater understanding of her characters, their complex emotions, and the struggles they face in seemingly hopeless situations. The fleeting pleasures they experience due to their poor choices come with lasting (and often tragic) consequences. In some of these stories we see the tragic result of childhood trauma that was never healed. Loneliness, isolation, and unmet needs are often met in all the wrong places as adults.
Kaltman’s characters—the flawed and the flawless—embody the best and worst of human nature as some practice kindness, humility, and charity while others grapple with lust, envy, and pride. Reality sometimes has a way of bringing people to their senses before all is lost and Kaltman emphasizes this in many of her colorful and complex characters. None of her characters are completely bad or completely good, but seem to embody a grey morality which discourages judgement and leads us to a vexing question: is it possible to be both good and bad at the same time? To err is human. To love is human. The answer is almost.
Most of us are familiar with the concept of the seven deadly sins: gluttony, envy, wrath, lust, sloth, to name a few. Alice Kaltman embraces these sins—along with their virtuous counterparts—in her short story collection, Almost Deadly, Almost Good. She personifies the sins in her complex characters while exploring an equal number of virtues. Her stories depict the tragedies and triumphs of human nature. Characters embodying gluttony, envy, and wrath seem to be in a constant state of inner conflict and turmoil while those who practice kindness, humility, and patience have better outcomes.
Kaltman has cleverly woven some of her characters into multiple stories where they interact with other characters in surprising and unpredictable ways, paying homage to "the six degrees of separation,” that wonderful theory that proposes people are inextricably connected through a chain of acquaintances. This technique of writing brings richness and clarity to her characters by allowing us to read about them from the perspective of others.
Kaltman’s intersecting stories are shocking in their outcomes—sometimes ending in tragedy. She writes with such intensity and clarity of the flawed human condition that it’s difficult not to feel the raw emotions that her characters experience, such as Miriam’s betrayal in Lust where she develops a crush on her daughter’s middle-aged boyfriend and attempts to steal a kiss from him. He recoils in horror as his future mother-in-law crosses an unspoken boundary. In Sloth we meet Cecil Jones, a lonely, overweight man in his 50s, bereft of purpose, ambition, and friends. He quits his boring office job to travel the world living a self-indulgent life only to experience an existential crisis. While on a layover during his return home, a chance sighting of baby seals stirs something within him, luring him over the edge of a dangerous cliff to spend his final moments with them. His older sister Bonnie sheds light on his upbringing in Wrath where she recounts how her father used to beat her while Cecil cried and hugged her. When their mother left her abusive husband, Bonnie took on the maternal role and all that came with it, including taking care of Cecil.
If we find ourselves judging Kaltman’s characters too harshly, then perhaps that exposes the vice of self-righteousness in us, which is also a sin. Perhaps we identify with one or more of her characters; maybe we made the same choices they did and experienced the same consequences. We are all beautiful and flawed in some way. The lesson is judge not lest ye be judged!
The seven stories of virtue show us equally fascinating characters. In Kindness we see grief-stricken Beth jump off a cruise ship, believing she has seen her dead son on Monkey Island. A fellow passenger jumps off to go rescue her and the two women share a mutual understanding of the pain they have suffered. In Humility a pair of swan-shaped earrings captivates Doris, who has always lived a modest, humble life. She only wears the beautiful swan earrings when no one else can see and finds simple joy in how they make her feel inside. Even these touching stories of virtue show the complexities of these noble characters’ lives.
It’s not until we’ve read all of Kaltman’s 14 short stories together that we gain greater understanding of her characters, their complex emotions, and the struggles they face in seemingly hopeless situations. The fleeting pleasures they experience due to their poor choices come with lasting (and often tragic) consequences. In some of these stories we see the tragic result of childhood trauma that was never healed. Loneliness, isolation, and unmet needs are often met in all the wrong places as adults.
Kaltman’s characters—the flawed and the flawless—embody the best and worst of human nature as some practice kindness, humility, and charity while others grapple with lust, envy, and pride. Reality sometimes has a way of bringing people to their senses before all is lost and Kaltman emphasizes this in many of her colorful and complex characters. None of her characters are completely bad or completely good, but seem to embody a grey morality which discourages judgement and leads us to a vexing question: is it possible to be both good and bad at the same time? To err is human. To love is human. The answer is almost.
August 17, 2023
In this collection of stories, Alice Kaltman studies both virtue and vice, and with her complex characters, it is hard to tell the difference. Kaltman’s exquisite fiction brings these people to life in ways that extend beyond the pages of their own stories, bleeding sometimes into other ones in the book, and even in other books. Like visiting people we know. but are never quite sure if we like them, or want to keep our distance. Whether you want to laugh or cry, it’s a brilliant collection, highly recommended.
December 27, 2022
I read this book thanks to an ARC from the publisher.
Really beautifully written collection of stories. There are still times I find myself thinking about certain stories, which is really the mark of something incredible.
Really beautifully written collection of stories. There are still times I find myself thinking about certain stories, which is really the mark of something incredible.
January 10, 2023
Meet a fun selection of quirky characters who are loosely tied together in this quick short story collection. If you’re a fan of Kaltman’s and have already read Dawg Town, then you’ll recognize some of those characters included here. You’ll be amused and you’ll be moved.
September 7, 2025
Provided Blurb:
Alice Kaltman’s Almost Deadly, Almost Good gives rise to the philosophical contemplations of virtue and sin—blending the two ideas—giving us reason to believe that perhaps, one is no different than the other depending on the situation. Consider each story as an apartment—then, the linked collection as a whole is an apartment complex with thin and papery walls, leading us to secrets which were never meant to be whispered, and as we find ourselves judging these characters, Kaltman’s words, in turn, are judging us at the same time, thus bringing forth one of our most common elements of human nature—our flaws. It is through these mirrors, that maybe, just maybe, there is a chance of redemption and peace—just a bit of light to keep us going. Almost Deadly, Almost Good is both a gritty and tender exploration of all us—haunting and enlightening.
Alice Kaltman’s Almost Deadly, Almost Good gives rise to the philosophical contemplations of virtue and sin—blending the two ideas—giving us reason to believe that perhaps, one is no different than the other depending on the situation. Consider each story as an apartment—then, the linked collection as a whole is an apartment complex with thin and papery walls, leading us to secrets which were never meant to be whispered, and as we find ourselves judging these characters, Kaltman’s words, in turn, are judging us at the same time, thus bringing forth one of our most common elements of human nature—our flaws. It is through these mirrors, that maybe, just maybe, there is a chance of redemption and peace—just a bit of light to keep us going. Almost Deadly, Almost Good is both a gritty and tender exploration of all us—haunting and enlightening.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews