A Well-Received Collection: THE MIDDLE-AGED MAN AND THE SEA
This post was last modified: 18 Dec 2011 04:24 PM by Christopher Meeks.
WHY do we like to read? Because it matters. Our hearts, our very beings, demand and cherish good stories because they tell us things about this crazy life. We need to know. In a single day we hear a lot of noise: Kim Kardashian divorcing or making up, Lindsay Lohan going to jail or getting out, or two 14-year old girls being hit in a crosswalk by a driver angry about a car stopped in front of her so she zooms around until she sees the girls flying off her grill. Good short stories cut through the noise.
I have two collections of short fiction out, both well-reviewed in print and on literary websites--and they have picked up awards. The stories leap into contemporary life and relationships, entertain, and leave you with something to ponder. Here is what critics are saying:
Praise for Christopher Meeks’s
The Middle-Aged Man & the Sea and Other Stories :
“A collection that is so stunning . . . that I could not help but move on to the next story.” — Entertainment Weekly
“Poignant and wise, sympathetic to the everyday struggles these characters face.” — Los Angeles Times
“These are original, articulate, engaging stories which examine life in America from the unique perspectives of ordinary people searching for their share of the promises held out as part of the American dream . . . . The Middle-Aged Man & The Sea is highly recommended, highly entertaining, highly rewarding reading.” — The Midwest Book Review
“Christopher Meeks bounces onto the literary scene as a vibrant new voice filled with talent and imagination. The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea is one of the finer collections of short stories that will rapidly rise to the top to of the heap of a battery of fine writers of this difficult medium.” — Grady Harp, Top Ten Reviewer, Amazon.com
“Mr. Meeks has a wonderfully fun writing style—witty, cynical, and often poignant. His stories are about the stuff of life: love and heartbreak, sickness and death, desires and struggles, spirituality and the search for meaning.” — Janet Rubin, Novel Reviews
“In this collection of short stories, Christopher Meeks examines the small heartbreaks and quiet despair that are so much a part of all of our lives. He does it in language that is resonant, poetic, and precise. Franz Kafka said that a book should be an ice-axe to break the frozen sea within us. This collection is just such a weapon. If you like Raymond Carver, you’ll love Meeks. He may be as good—or better. He deserves major recognition.” — author David Scott Milton (Paradise Road)
“If the publishing and reading world is fair and just, Christopher Meeks is destined to be widely read and deservedly honored.” — Carolyn Howard-Johnson, Myshelf.com
“Many of these tales have appeared in American literary journals, but reading them together, you get the full impact of Meeks's talent, as he takes you in a head-long assault through ordinary day-to-day life, the mundane under the microscope and given the once-over through Meeks's careful eye.” — Susan Tomaselli, Dogmatika
![[Image: middle-aged-man-and-the-sea-300%20(new)....teaser.jpg]](http://redroom.com/files/images/middle-aged-man-and-the-sea-300%20(new).book%20large%20teaser.jpg)
The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea
The first book, "The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea" had its first review in the Los Angeles Times, and then things picked up from there, receiving must-read recognition in Entertainment Weekly. The book also won a Noble (not Nobel) Award for best fiction in 2006. If you want to see a very short video on the book, try:
Download a sample and try a story to see. Click here to see the book on Amazon.
