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by Ben Loory
Loory's collection of wry and witty, dark and perilous contemporary fables is populated by people - and monsters and trees and jocular octopi - who are motivated by the same fears and desires that isolate and unite us all. In this singular universe, televisions talk (and sometimes sing), animals live in small apartments where their nephews visit from the sea, and men and women and boys and girls fall down wells and fly through space and find love on Ferris wheels.
In a voice full of fable, myth, and dream, Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day draws us into a world of delightfully wicked recognitions, and introduces us to a writer of uncommon talent and imagination.
"Reading several stories in a row might mitigate some of the individual impact, but together they provide a series of glimpses into a world in which all manner of disturbing discoveries and transformations are possible." - Publishers Weekly
"...lonely, haunting, and dreamlike..." - Gary K. Wolfe, Locus Magazine
"...loopy yet lovely..." - Elle Magazine
"Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day is that rare find - a book that excites the reader. These tales are hilarious and vertiginous in the calmly absurd manner of Lydia Davis, Jack Handey and Etgar Keret. With his first book, Ben Loory proves he's already a master of the sleight of hand." - Stewart O'Nan, author of A Prayer for the Dying
"Ben Loory's haunting fables spin off puzzlements that stay with you long after you've put down the book." - Edward Packard, inventor of Choose Your Own Adventure (and author of more than fifty of its titles)
This information about Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Ben Loory was born in Dover, New Jersey and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard. He later attained his MFA from the American Film Institute and as a screenwriter has worked with the likes of Jodie Foster and Alex Proyas. His fables and tales have appeared - or are upcoming - in such widely varied publications as The New Yorker, ESPN The Magazine, Space and Time, and The Antioch Review. In November 2008, his story "Photographs" was a finalist for the Glimmer Train Short Story Award for New Writers. He lives in Los Angeles. Visit him online at www.benloory.com.
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