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For today’s Book Review Tuesday post, we are going to take a trip through a very fun book of quirky and clever short stories.
Leftover Shorts
I met Amy on Book Blogs and immediately developed a girl-crush. She is snarky and funny and sarcastic and clever – four of my all-time favorite adjectives. Her blog – Amy Neftzger’s Blog – is a delight, full mockery of corporate America and the ridiculous people who populate it, random musical observations and insights (she’s not only an author but also – seriously – a rock star), and fabulous snippets and random goodies related to reading and writing.
Seriously, who among you wouldn’t be totally crushing, given all that?
That was enough to get me to buy the book. Then I read the stories. Now I’m hooked.
The collection covers widely disparate topics and sensibilities, from marshmallow gun-toting scientists, to miscellaneously appearing witches, to the ambivalence inherent in greatness. Each contains a soft chewy bit o’ wisdom found at the center of a delicious crunchy candy shell. Having barely survived corporate America myself, my favorite story was the first one – The Marshmallow War. The image of scientists meting out justice-by-marshmallow, with each new punishment derived through manipulated research “priorities” is one that will stick with me forever (in a good way).
Ah, Amy, if only I’d known you when I was in charge of R&D policy while employed by a mega-pharmaceutical company…
Whether you are a corporate survivor or not, Amy’s crafty use of language and imagery will entertain and amuse, so be sure to check out Leftover Shorts – and her blog. You won’t be sorry…
Enter here to win one of three free copies of the e-book (via Smashwords):
(Legal disclaimer for all you disclaimer-lovers out there: I’m fairly sure no executives were harmed in the making of The Marshmallow War, but I haven’t talked to Amy, so can’t guarantee that. From my own personal experience, even if they were, it’s not that big a deal – corporate executives are not on any endangered species list I’m familiar with…)
If no corporate ececutives were harmed in the making of “The Marshmallow War” what was the point of writing it? It’s like writing a country song and not mentioning Mamma or trains or getting drunk.
As you could probably tell from my disclaimer to the disclaimer, I’m quite confident corporate execs got exactly what they deserved from Amy – and her characters… Isn’t that the most fun story? I do love a good cautionary tale – although for all I know it was more like a True Hollywood Story. Ah, if only I had ever gotten to actualize any of my work-revenge fantasies. And then sell their stories. Double the pleasure, double the fun…
oh – and if you are interested, enter to win the free e-book – your earlier comment totally counts… 😉
Totally enter me! Loved the disclaimer! Donna
The Marshmallow War got me thinking; the trend of pushing older workers aside in favor of the younger generation is a trend happening not just in corporate America. Actually, I have mixed emotions about this. I would like to know how Amy treat this kind of scenario in her story. I already love the idea of “marshmallow gun-toting scientists” and “justice-by-marshmallow”.
You will love the story Nancy – it’s justice at it’s finest! 😉
And why did Amy named her book, “Leftover shorts”? That would be interesting to find out; I haven’t found the meaning behind it in the synopsis. I’ve already wishlisted this. Thanks for the review, Jill. 🙂
I will give her the chance to explain (she knows the review is up and may see the comment) – if she doesn’t, I will happily explain (I asked her myself)!
I love short stories, they are great to take on holidays or if you want a quick read.
I like short stories. They are great to read on study breaks. And these ones sound interesting!
I am scrolling and reading and linking — everyone likes to read
I tend to prefer novels myself, but I’ve gotten into reading short stories more lately. In part because writing a novel takes a ton of time, so if I’m going to try writing short stories, I need to read them. And because I’m doing a class on writing short stories now, so again, need to read them. And I’m finding some that I really like. 🙂
Bonnie, that is exactly what got me into short stories!! I love when I find good ones – short stories that manage to do what my favorite novels do, namely provide a complex set of characters going through an interesting story arc… I think you’ll like these!
Oh I love it already. There is no such thing as life without humor. To be able to get it from a book especially on a subject I ignored all through school is the greatest gift EVER!
Congrats to all three winners – I have sent you an email with the claim code for your free e-book, if you don’t get it/haven’t seen it, let me know ASAP. Sorry for the slight delay in getting these out – US Thanksgiving holidays left me in a tryptophan-induced turkey coma for the past few days… 😉 Thanks everyone for entering!