A Kind of Flying: Selected Stories

by Ron Carlson

Overview

"These stories are full of surprises, jolts, and lightning strikes of recognition. Do yourself a favor and read Ron Carlson." —Stephen King

Ron Carlson's stories, sometimes wicked or bittersweet, often zany, are rich with a hard-earned hopefulness frequently absent in contemporary fiction. In this generous gathering from collections no longer available, longtime fans and new readers alike can savor the development of a master of idiosyncrasy.

Properly celebrated for his range, Carlson offers us a rural sheriff who's wary of UFOs ("Phenomena"), a lawyer on a mission in remote Alaska ("Blazo"), a baseball player turned killer-by-accident ("Zanduce at Second"), and a nineteen-year-old who experiences an unsettling sexual awakening during an Arizona summer ("Oxygen"). Here also is a man accusing Bigfoot of stealing his wife, followed by Bigfoot's incomparable response. Not least of the treasures is "The H Street Sledding Record," a story perfect for family holiday reading, in which a young father creates the magic of Santa by throwing manure on his roof on Christmas Eve.

This book proves Carlson's axiom that "a short story is not a single thing done a single way," and it offers us—finally—a full view of his remarkable talents.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393077650
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	10/01/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	464
File size:	857 KB

About the Author

Ron Carlson teaches creative writing at Arizona State and lives in Scottsdale. His stories, much anthologized, have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, Esquire, Playboy, and other magazines.

Editorial Reviews

Carlson achieves one hard balancing act after the next, and each of these 33 stories -- from the more uncanny early imaginings to the more plausibly grounded later pieces -- finds some way to prickle the neck hairs. We are caught off guard, even as we feel the practiced hand of the maker. — Sven Birkerts

The New York Times

Comprising stories from three out of print collections (The News of the World; Plan B for the Middle Class; The Hotel Eden), this hefty compilation showcases Carson's chatty, often playful narrative style and his fascination with the tricky nature of male-female relationships. Most of the stories are written in the first person, and Carlson is a master at confessional narrators: men-husbands, fathers and boyfriends-befuddled by, but enchanted with, the women in their lives. "There's a lot inside a man that never gets out," notes the sheriff-narrator of "Phenomena," but the men hold little back in these pages. In the unforgettable "Bigfoot Stole My Wife," a man tries to convince himself that his wife didn't mean to leave him, but was instead kidnapped by the hairy beast. In "Milk," one of the collection's finest stories, a father who refuses to let his infant twin sons be fingerprinted, thinking it smacks of paranoia, realizes that, because of his overwhelming love for them, "now I am afraid of everything." Carlson's offbeat, frequently hopeful stories stand out amid the starker work of contemporaries like Richard Ford and Tobias Wolff. He doesn't ignore life's rougher spots, though: in "The Hotel Eden" a naive young meteorologist, in love with his girlfriend and thrilled with his new, enigmatic buddy, is forced by an act of betrayal to reconsider his optimism and trust. For fans of short fiction, this should prove a treat. (Oct.) Forecast: While it's a bit daunting in size, this is a good volume to dip into now and then; blurbs from Stephen King and Antonya Nelson testify to Carlson's broad appeal and should help attract readers of both commercial and literary fiction. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Drawn from Carlson's three previously published and highly acclaimed collections-"The News of the World," "Plan B for the Middle Class," and "The Hotel Eden"-this hugely appealing selection is among the finest collections of short fiction you will likely encounter. These wry, generous, elegantly written stories mostly concern professional, middle-class characters struggling to understand themselves and connect meaningfully with others. Many of Carlson's characters are lonely, some are confused, and a few are simply overwhelmed by what life has thrown at them. Yet they are listeners and thinkers who engage life deeply, and they bristle with a remarkable vitality. Thematically, Carlson explores a series of richly complex themes related to finding happiness and living honorably. Some of these stories are whimsical and offbeat ("Bigfoot Stole My Wife"), while others handle the more serious subjects of loss and death. The very best-like "Blazo," "Oxygen," and "The Governor's Ball"-take us places we have never been before. An important and inspiring collection.-Patrick Sullivan, Manchester Community Coll., CT Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

High entertainment value distinguishes many of the 35 stories here, all distilled from Arizona writer Carlson's first three collections (The Hotel Eden, 1997, etc.). A genial prefatory essay "Friends of My Youth" neatly introduces a writer who's typically inventive, funny, and-rather too often-gimmicky. His narrators parade their eccentricities like designer duds, while beneath such flamboyance fears of marriages collapsing ("Half Life," "The Governor's Ball") and children in peril ("Status Quo," "Milk") insistently surface. Several, however, vividly dramatize familial harmony ("Life Before Science," "The H Street Sledding Record"). Tricky premises ("Zanduce at Second," "On the U.S.S. Fortitude") resemble T.C. Boyle's, but their development lacks that contemporary master's narrative fullness. Elsewhere, Carlson digs deep, finding the embattled humanity that confuses and ennobles such memorable characters as a grieving father tracing his late son's last days in Alaska ("Blazo"), a failed veterinarian-nature writer who finds strength in family and memory ("Plan B for the Middle Class"), and a college student whose summer job delivering "Oxygen" to medical patients saddens him, and makes a man of him. Though Carlson often nods, his best tales will endure, and shouldn't be missed.

Kirkus Reviews

"Ron Carlson's characters embrace a sophisticated, earthy, heroic morality. They are the fellows you hope will teach your children, marry your sisters, tell you stories."

Antonya Nelson

"I was entirely and happily in Carlson's thrall. The word 'happily' seems especially apt for this writer, who is a master of that rarity in contemporary fiction, the happy ending."

Margot Livesey

"Ron Carlson is doing something unique. He's writing the chronicle, not of our losses, but of our quirky, unreliable potential for grace."

Michael Cunningham