Thirteen Ways To Water

Bruce Holland Rogers may be a writer new to the bookstores but his gifts as a short story teller and 'social philosopher' have been gracing the internet and literary journals for some time now. At last we have a 'hold in your lap' collection of his collected short stories and it is a welcome addition to the library of anyone hungry for new talent! Holland's writing style is succinct, free of wandering diversions, focused on the main point of a tale as all good short stories should be, and enjoys a rather wide spectrum of topics. He seems to favor the technique of re-telling fables or stories we may have heard, dozing off to sleep in the sanctity of our childhood memories, placing them in quirky contemporary settings that for the most part are successful. But recasting fables can become wearing, if that is all there is to a book, and Holland recognizes this and serves us stories of such odd diversity as Vietnam flashbacks, Golf, marauders in communication with Chief Seattle, cats as comrades, etc. Holland is at once funny, tender, insightful, and always creative. There is one aspect of this book that may be part of Holland's style but that to this reader is distracting: for some reason he finds it necessary to provide us with a paragraph on a separate opening page before each story as though he needed to explain what is in store. Really good stories (such as these) stand solidly on their own and intros (such as these) can spoil the effect. Perhaps a general introduction at the beginning of the collection would accomplish the same end and would not disrupt the joy of progressing through this thoroughly entertaining group of shorties.