The Pioneer Press's Mary Ann Grossmann was kind enough to give my short story collection, The Bleeder, some love in Sunday's paper (June 14). It was the leadoff review for her summer reading round up. Here's the link to the full review: http://tinyurl.com/oul8y82
She liked most of the stories, but one of them appeared to have "upset" her. Here's what she wrote: "Tad Simons . . . offers eight varied and often funny stories in this collection. Seven are lots of fun; one is so upsetting it seems to have wandered in from another book."
At first I thought she was talking about the title story, The Bleeder, since people have told me that it, too, upset them. But no, she was talking about the story "Some Kind of Animal," which, ironically, happens to be one of my favorites. Yes, it's a little sick and twisted, but hey, I did my master's thesis on themes of evil in books by John Hawkes, so by comparison it's pretty tame.
Tragedies require tragic things to happen, so I personally take it as a compliment if I can actually upset someone in this day and age. I mean, have you seen the TV show Hannibal? Now there's some sick, twisted shit. I think "Some Kind of Animal" is funny too, because it satirizes the way in which men in this society feel emasculated, and what happens to one poor guy when he tries to reclaim some sense of masculinity for himself. All in the name of a woman, of course--but only her name, because he doesn't even really know her.
Anyway, it's nice to get some press. Thanks Mary Ann.