Short Stories by Neil Crabtree.
The stories run a cycle from hippie stoner days through midlife and into anear-future where seniors are offered rewards for Early Termination.
"The stories in Neil Crabtree's debut story collection Believable Lies are bold, risky, and wildly entertaining. Trust me--you're going to be carried away to a more vivid and compelling world than the one you're living in. You'll be laughing so hard you won't realize you're crying. No one should be this good, or this funny, the first time out. Neil's genius is his ability to uncover the sadness that underlies the comic and the grandeur just below the surface of our sorry lives". --John Dufresne, author of Requiem, MASS.,
Is Life Like This? and
Johnny Too Bad, Requiem, Mass.: A Novel Is Life Like This?: A Guide to Writing Your First Novel in Six Months Johnny Too Bad: Stories
Excerpt
"My father had two Purple Heart medals and a Silver Star we kept on display in the living room. The story of the price he had to pay to get those medals had many variations, but they all came back to the scars on his ribs and thighs and the wide open drugged-out eyes he carried around in his head everyday. I’d turned seventeen in November and had been hearing about the wonderful benefits of enlisting right out of high school for months now, from the poster boy for service in our nation’s armed forces. The peacetime Army is different, he said, and I didn’t even bother pointing out that we were at war in the same place he earned his medals twenty years ago, and may be there forever. "
from My First Handgun
Professional Reviews
John Dufresne's review
"The stories in Neil Crabtree's debut story collection Believable Lies are bold, risky, and wildly entertaining. Trust me--you're going to be carried away to a more vivid and compelling world than the one you're living in. You'll be laughing so hard you won't realize you're crying. No one should be this good, or this funny, the first time out. Neil's genius is his ability to uncover the sadness that underlies the comic and the grandeur just below the surface of our sorry lives". --John Dufresne, author of Requiem, MASS.,
Is Life Like This? and
Johnny Too Bad,
Requiem, Mass.: A Novel
Is Life Like This?: A Guide to Writing Your First Novel in Six Months
Johnny Too Bad: Stories
As deafness, illness, and demonic forces close in around him, Ludwig van Beethoven must summon his faith and genius to complete the Missa Solemnis—a sacred masterpiece he believes could bring divine light into a darkening world.
A teenage boy struggling with the coming-of-age issues of sexuality, religion, and peer approval is overwhelmed, but soldiers on. After several years, he comes to understand the family forces that have left him so deeply troubled, and the process of
High school student Kevin Borden has a secret and his name is Louis Lannegan. He also has an overbearing mother. A tale of coming out in the shadow of parents and friends. Award winning novella.
