We’re told not to judge a book by the cover, but let’s face it—we all do. It’s like that first glance across a crowded room, you do a double take, you make your move—then, well, you know how it goes from there. One look at The Roadkill Collection by Jon Sindell and you settle on a pick-up line. And when you get it home, you won’t be disappointed. It is what you hoped it would be; a funny, irreverent, unexpected, and unusual in all the right ways, take on life and the world we all live in. A collection of true flash fiction these nuggets are like looking through a keyhole— seeing just enough to know that there’s much more to see; yet seeing just the right pieces to tell you what you want to know about what’s on the other side.
Honest and without pretence these stories are like a flashlight flickering from footfall to tree limb to fork in the road— illuminating the places we’ve been and luring us onto paths we can’t see the end of. But that’s where it all gets interesting, right?
Just like a good novel leads you from chapter to chapter with exits lines that make you want—no, need—to turn the page, Sindell’s stories land on just the right ending to make you want to read one more…ok, just one more…well, since I’m already sitting here wearing my reading glasses…you see where I’m going.
Jon Sindell not only has a gift for creating a scene you never saw coming, he also has a talent for making the anti-climactic a cliffhanger. Now, wait, think about that. I’m not saying that nothing has happened in the story. I’m saying that life has happened and Jon has expertly drawn us through those seemingly little moments that change everything. Those times that we all experience that make us say, “If I’d only known…” Anyone can make an explosion interesting, but it takes a talent to make a small misunderstanding, a missed opportunity, or dead deer akin to the meaning of it all.
It’s not just the circumstance that Jon illuminates so deftly. His characters are characters indeed. The good guys make bad decisions and the bad guys have good reason making it hard to place your alliance, but impossible not to see the humanity.
Big Table Publishing has hit a home run. Jon Sindell’s The Roadkill Collection should be in yours.
