On "Code" by David Crouse (7325 words) ****

Before And Then We Came to the End, there was "Code," David Crouse's short story with similar zaniness and a similar situation--layoffs at an office. It's one of the funniest stories I've ever read. But it's interesting to look back over the story after reading Ferris's novel. That novel builds itself in a corporate "we" speak. In Crouse's work, it's every man and woman for him- or herself, and if there were an operative pronoun it would seem more likely to be ominous and unidentifiable "they." A "list is going around." "They" are laying people off. But just what is the job that people are going to lose? What exactly do these people in the office do? Come to the end, there is no sentimental riff on the times "we" used to have. Crouse is darker, as is typical. All that is left for his characters is insanity. Read the story here.

On "Show and Tell" by David Crouse (5740 words) *****

One of my favorites, though not my actual favorite, from stories from Crouse's second collection is this gem about a cleptomaniac kid. Okay, maybe he's not a clepto full time, but he's a clepto at least when it comes to this one friend, this friend who isn't going to be cool enough to be a friend come the school year. But in these long and dull summer days, when all you have is a brother who likes to beat you up for a companion, better to go to that misfit's house and steal his stuff. Read the story here.

On "Kopy Kats" by David Crouse (5400 words) *****

Thanks to an anonymous reader's tip, I now know that David Crouse has a Web site of his own, where he updates fans on readings he's doing and shares information on his books. He's also posted a few of his stories--some of his very best. My favorite of all of his stories (though "The Forbidden Kingdom" would likely rival this one for that spot) is "Kopy Kats," a story whose ending is one of the most unexplainably chilling finishes to a story that I have ever read. I say "unexplainably" because it isn't an ending that would, on the surface, seem to mean much. This isn't some gory shoot-em-up. It's just a question, but a question that gets under one's skin, especially after reading about a character so easily mistaken for others, about characters who seem so nakedly oblivious to the world around them. Are we all that way? Read the story here at Crouse's site.

On "The Man Back There and Other Stories" by David Crouse ****

David Crouse's newest collection didn't seem to me to start off as strongly as his previous collection, but it got better. In fact, it got very good. And this was a relief. Discussing the book with a friend, after I'd first started it, my friend warned that, if it's a book of stories and I'm not terribly excited about the first ones, then that doesn't bode well. But this collection builds steam. And sometimes, a collection needs that. Sometimes, the sum total is more than its parts. Sometimes, you have to let a group of stories set the mood. I left the collection wanting more rather being relieved I was done--and for that I am very happy. (It's certainly better than the opposite--beginning a collection with excitement and leaving it, by the end, simply wanting it to be over.)

Crouse writes dark stories. These particular stories are set around the lives of lonely men. My favorites--there are quite a few--would be "Show & Tell" (the tale of a toy thief), "What We Own" (about a young man who tries to commit suicide), and "Torture Me" (about a man whose porn tape his wife finds). But the piece I like most is "The Forgotten Kingdom." This story, about man working in an office at the tail end of a set of going-out-of business layoffs, captures so much so well--the surreal, sad environment in such an office building; the longing one sometimes feels for one's past, even though one doesn't really want to return to the past; and the desire just to talk--to anyone. "The Forgotten Kingdom" is a forgotten video game, one through which the narrator bonds with another lonely soul. This story, more than any other in the collection, struck me with its presentation of men alone and wanting. (If only a David Crouse story were online, I'd feature it--he's a wonderful writer, and I look forward to his next collection.)