On "My Sweet Warrior" by David Erlewine (517 words) ****

I was never one of the tough guys. In fact, I remember being locked out of school-yard football games by friends worried I'd get hurt. I guess the fact that people actually looked out for me was good, rather than taking opportunity to beat me up. I learned to be gracious via my parents. I went to a private school where beatings weren't so common. I value all those things.

And yet, what if I had been shown how to stand up for myself better? What would I have come to? What would my childhood have been like? Perhaps it would have been like that of the kid in this story. If so, I don't think I missed out on much. This is one deluded, wrong-headed parent, but one who clearly loves his kid all the same, and in that is the stories sad humor. Read it here at Word Riot.

On "Where I’m Emailing From" by David Erlewine (634 words) *****

David Erlewine's fiction often centers on neurotic narrators, and that's why it's often so fascinating. Here we get the tale of a passive aggressive husband, an apology that's really, well, not quite what one would expect. Read the story here at the Emprise Review.

On "The Suicide Note My Dad Forgot to Leave Me" by David Erlewine (165 words) ***

I read this mostly because of the title. But it's a really good piece beyond that. Thing is, while reading the details that are presented in the list that is this story, I was taken with the oddities and humor. Where the piece gets it's power, though, is in the title. These random thoughts collected as they are are interesting--string them up to this title, and they become very sad. Read the story here at 971 Menu.

On "His Face" by David Erlewine (186 words) ***

Here's a short piece about malevolence. Whether it starts off that way, I'm not sure. To what extent the wrongs are in the narrator's head are slightly unclear. But then, it appears to descend into something nightmarish and horrifying--for all involved. That we're dealing with children here and disease and death is what makes this piece so fascinating. Were we to know more, we might not want to look--or we might find it absolutely ridiculous. Kept short, the piece remains captivating. Read it here at 971 Menu.

On "Marionettes" by David Erlewine (855 words) ****

Erlewine's tale starts in media res, where great stories often start. Only once we begin to understand what's going on is the actual situation actually discussed--and that not in detail. We don't need the details. The more interesting thing here is the means of talking, the way this story, or message, is being written and what it suggests about the narrator and all of those still around the narrator. Something's missing from their lives--something very important. Second-person narrator used to great effect here. Read the story here at Necessary Fiction.