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Book Review – Start a Religion, Stay Out of Jail and Other Absurd Tales by Logan J. Medland

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About the Book

Front cover of Start a Religion, Stay Out of Jail and Other Absurd Tales by Logan Medland

Pets: do they secretly hate us? Could starting a religion allow one to live one’s entire life as a tax write-off and are the cost-to-benefit ratios worth it? What if the donut shop around the corner stays open all through the sleepless nights and its only patrons were every person you’ve ever known? Could this indeed be heaven?

What happens when the delivery driver falls in love with one of his customers? Is there redemption for the students who planned and executed their teacher’s demise, just to get out of doing their homework? Would you survive the apocalypse if you built the world’s most well-planned bomb shelter? Is simply surviving enough, or would you need trustworthy companionship as well? Is cheese the most perfect food?

Find out answers to these questions and so much more…

Format: ebook (142 pages) Publisher: Raw Earth Ink
Publication date: 20th October 2024 Genre: Short Stories, Humour

Find Start a Religion, Stay Out of Jail and Other Absurd Tales on Goodreads

Purchase Start a Religion, Stay Out of Jail and Other Absurd Tales from Amazon UK

My Review

A short story collection is like a ‘pick and mix’. Some stories you’re instantly drawn to and others you take a chance on. Some leave you wondering what you’ve just read. Others may scare the living daylights out of you, leave you tearful or have you chuckling away to yourself. Some may involve familiar situations, others things that would never occur in real life. Or perhaps they could?

I think it’s fair to say the stories in this collection cover just about all the things I’ve listed above, with the emphasis on the absurd. Indeed the author invites you to ‘unmoor yourself from reality and drift where these stories take you’.

One of my favourite stories was ‘The Man Who Delivers Flowers’. It’s actually the tender and surprisingly moving tale of a flower delivery man. As he makes his deliveries, he ponders the different situations in which people send flowers and the message their choice of flowers sends. Orchids for ‘the daring’, gerbera for ‘the connoisseur’, ivy for ‘the pragmatic’, bleeding heart ‘only for the manic’. Declarations of love, cravings for forgiveness, expressions of sympathy, he delivers flowers that represent them all. ‘How many of you can say you experience this much exaltation, this much despair, and this many triumphs in one day on the job?’

Another story I enjoyed was ‘The Icebox’ in which a man who has previously seen no need for one purchases an icebox and it ignites in him an overwhelming desire to acquire possessions.

The story that gives the book its title sees two men invent a religion, along with all its trappings such as robes, ritual chants, ceremonial sacrifice and sacred works containing the teachings of an invented prophet, the great Zanthus. The contents of the latter the narrator freely admits he borrowed from Thus Spake Zarathustra and The Lord of the Rings. After initial success, it also goes downhill and the pair find themselves left with only ‘useless followers – the meek, the lame, the peacemakers’ and longing for their previous obscurity.

In ‘After The Bombs’, two friends retreat into a labyrinthine nuclear bunker they have constructed designed to provide them with everything they need to survive for forty years. An ‘underground ark’, it contains the means to sustain livestock and grow food. A vast library contains books to provide entertainment and spiritual wellbeing as well as of a practical nature: manuals on how to wield a pick axe, maintain a reactor, and shoot a deer with a bow and arrow. To while away the time they plan to master the fine cuisines of the world or learn to play the works of Stravinsky on the grand piano. It’s not long however before things begin to go wrong. They start to get on each other’s nerves and cordon bleu meals are replaced by convenience foods from the freezer. Our narrator starts a newspaper but soon most of the articles concern the failings of his friend. It’s downhill from thereon.

If you want absurd, how about the final story ‘The Cheeseman’ which features a superhero who proclaims cheese to be the only food in the universe that contains a single ingredient (you’ve guessed it, cheese) and whose powers include the ability to melt under extreme heat. Two children decide to put his claims to the test.

Start a Religion, Stay Out of Jail and Other Absurd Tales is an entertaining collection of stories.

My thanks to the author for my digital review copy.

In three words: Clever, witty, satirical
Try something similar: Normal Rules Don’t Apply by Kate Atkinson

About the Author

Author Logan J Medland

Logan Medland was born in Toronto and lives now in the East Village of New York. He makes his living as a music director, composer, lyricist, and librettist for the theatre. He is married to Brazilian artist and photographer Ana Cissa Pinto. (Photo: Amazon author page)

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Book Review – Possible Happiness by David Ebenbach

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About the Book

Book cover of Possible Happiness by David Edenbach

Eleventh-grader Jacob Wasserman is just trying to get by. Under the radar, he spends his weekends at home by himself, leaning on TV and video games to distract himself from the weight — these days we would call it depression — inside him.

But he’ s secretly got a quirky sense of humor, and, when he starts letting it show, he finally gets noticed. In fact, before he knows it, Jacob’ s ability to keep people entertained has drawn him into a full-time social life, complete with a circle of friends, parties, and even a girlfriend.

But is this newfound acceptance enough to unlock meaningful well-being? Is this entertainer even the real Jacob?

Format: eBook (246 pages) Publisher: Fitzroy Books
Publication date: 10th September 2024 Genre: Young Adult

Find Possible Happiness on Goodreads

Purchase Possible Happiness from Amazon UK

My Review

My teenage years are a long way behind me, I’m female, British, not Jewish and went to an all girls school so you might imagine it would be difficult for me to relate in any way to sixteen-year old Jacob Wasserman. Yet I’m sure we can all think of occasions when we’ve felt like an outsider or that we don’t fit in, or doubted if our friendships will last or we’ll ever find that special person. So even if the teenage angst and dating worries are a distant memory, I found myself really absorbed in Jacob’s struggles, cheering at his little moments of joy and feeling sad for him when things aren’t going so well.

Jacob is intelligent and witty but often has to fight the inclination to hide himself away, to retreat into himself when the going gets tough. He often feels down but not only for himself but for the sadness of others, the sadness in the world even. ‘He would be walking down the street and see a dent in a car, for example, or he’d be on the bus and he’d hear two people arguing bitterly, or he’d look out a window and see a person walking slowly by themselves…’ He calls how this makes him feel ‘the howl’.

Things seem to change when Jacob becomes part of a circle of friends who refer to themselves as the ‘Pack’. They hang out together before and after school, they go to nightclubs and parties together, they introduce one another to different types of music. But when members of the group begin to pair up, the dynamics change and Jacob fears he may become an outsider again. He doesn’t help himself by bottling up his feelings so they risk exploding into anger.

I loved the relationship between Jacob and his mother, their companiable banter as they eat dinner or watch a TV show together, Jacob’s ability to make his mother laugh. (His father is off the scene having started a new life in another city with another partner.) As well as working all hours to make ends meet, Jacob’s mother has her own issues – in particular, the dark period she experiences every November – but she possesses an instinctive sense of Jacob’s needs, offering support and encouragement rather than hectoring him like his father. Jacob’s sister, Deanna, who is away at college is also a source of practical advice. Sometimes Jacob just needs someone to help him see a way through the darkness to the other side, or just convince him there is an ‘other side’.

The author captures the essence of the late 1980s through the films and TV shows the characters watch, the video games Jacob and his friends play, the music they listen to, the clothes they wear, and the food they eat. In case you’re thinking the story sounds a bit of a downer, you’ll find a good dose of humour in there too.

Possible Happiness is a perceptive coming-of-age story about facing up to the challenges in life and finding your place in the world.

I received a digital review copy courtesy of the author.

In three words: Insightful, funny, poignant

About the Author

Author David Ebenbach

David Ebenbach is the author of ten books of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, winners of awards like the Drue Heinz Literature Prize and the Juniper Prize, among others. He lives with his family in Washington, DC, where he works at Georgetown University, teaching creative writing and literature and supporting faculty and grad students in their own student-centered and inclusive teaching. [Bio/photo: Amazon]

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