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Mr. Tucker & Me: A Short Story (2014)

by Gregor Xane(Favorite Author)

3.86 of 5 Votes: 2

languge

English

genre

Horror

publisher

new dollar pulp

review 1: In the spirit of full disclosure, Gregor Xane is my friend here on Goodreads, and I picked up this short story when he offered it for free a few days ago. All that has nothing to do with my opinion of the story though - just being up-front. :) So, what DID I think of the story? Well, I liked it. This is my first experience with Gregor's writing, so I have no idea how it measures up to his other stories, but I thought that this story was well-written and quirky and interesting, but I found myself just wanting a bit more. I'm a short story fan. I love them. Very little filler material so they can be super satisfying, pure story goodness, but they do require a delicate hand to get them right. I loved the beginning of this story - the narrator/nameless main character telling a... morebout his home reno project that led to him having a weatherized TV outdoors... and then the tragedy which caused him to abandon it, and then the way it was eventually used. This stuff was beautiful and richly detailed and I'd have gladly read much more of that story. The characterization, even though we only have two actual characters to learn about, and one of them is a squirrel, was great. I felt like they were fleshed out enough to make them real, but in a sketchy short-story way that I like, because it allows me things to think about and learn about the characters on my own. Where things started to get wonky for me is the middle. Sure, I can accept intelligent squirrels, with or without the explanation that was actually given... but the gas station and its new staff, stock, and clientele were just bizarre, and there's nothing explaining that at all. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing - I'm OK with snapshot short stories that just show something and not why it is or where it came from or what's going to happen to it - but I didn't feel like this one really fit that mold. We got all of the other facets of a normal story, but that one piece was missing for me. I just needed a little more. A dream, or a glimpse of a rip in the space-time continuum, or a odd-looking unexplained device of some sort, or a shimmer while crossing the county line, or even really good drugs... something. Everything else worked for me, but I just wanted that missing piece to tie the story together. Otherwise, I really enjoyed this little story, and I'd love to read more about Mr. Tucker and his friends.
review 2: What if our backyard squirrels are not the simple-minded creatures we deem them to be? Ponder the possibility that their incessant chittering and chattering means something more than we think. Take a little trip with an old-timer, his Rambler, and his squirrelly buddy, Mr. Tucker. Their typical Sunday afternoon drive is about to go off course in a big way.Thanks for the entertaining freebie! less

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