PEOPLE WITH PROBLEMS

Dillon presents a collection of 29 character-driven works of flash fiction.

The short stories that make up this work tend to be no longer than a page or two, and they present readers with a range of scenarios, many of them macabre. In “An Acquired Taste,” for instance, a zombie explains the difficulty in developing an interest in eating human brains, and when he tries to consume a perfectly good hamburger, he does so with “a spray of bright green bile.” “Clown Car” features a number of very small and very deceased clowns that are found in an automobile; the causes of death are varied, the origin of the clowns unknown. “Housemate” involves an eccentric and possibly dangerous roommate. Some works tune into more playful subjects; “The Anatomical Model,” for instance, which features a human model without skin, turns out to be not as serious as it might seem at first. The stories are accompanied by single-page illustrations from 15 different artists, which range from a cartoonish barroom image for “Only Feet” to a troubling drawing of a crow with a bloody human eye in its beak, which accompanies “The Juiciest Grapes.” Readers may find many of the narratives hard to predict, and some, despite their brevity, manage to tap into deep fears. “Housemate” will be relatable to anyone who’s ever questioned the safety of their living situation, and it’s strengthened by such details as the roommate’s “scratches and bruises on his torso and legs.” “Clown Car” maintains a dark sense of curiosity, helped along by a morbidly funny illustration of a deceased clown next to some tools. Other works generate less feeling, however; “The Fly Guy” involves a character who collects dead flies but offers little development beyond this setup. Nevertheless, the book as a whole shows that a lot can be done with a very limited word count.

An often engaging assortment of brief and bizarre tales.