Get in Trouble by Kelly Link

Get in Trouble

Kelly Link

Imagine if you can a Catherine Wheel loaded up with stories instead of fireworks. As the wheel spins the stories fly off in different directions, each lighting up the sky in its own unique way. This is Kelly Link's Get in Trouble: nine very different stories where the boundaries between the real and fantasy are frequently crossed, leaving you questioning what actually happened. Mind-blowing stuff.

Extract

The remains of the nudist colony at Lake Apopka promise reasonable value for ghost hunters. A dozen ruined cabins, some roofless, windows black with mildew; a crumbled stucco hall, Spanish tiles receding; the cracked lip of a slop-filled pool. Between the cabins and the lake, the homely and welcome sight of half a dozen trailers; even better, he spots a craft tent. 

Muck farms! Mutant alligators! Disappearing nudists! The demon lover, killing time in the LAX airport, read up on Lake Apopka. The past is a weird place, Florida is a weird place, no news there. A demon lover should fit right in, but the ground sucks and clots at his shoes in a way that suggests he isn't welcome. The rain is directly overhead now, shouting down in spit-warm gouts. He begins to run, stumbling, in the direction of the craft tent.  

(From the story 'I Can See Right Through You')

Parallels
  • Stone Junction by Jim Dodge
  • Battleborn by Claire Vaye Watkins
  • Orange World by Karen Russell
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Explicit sexual content