Eleven short stories, a one-act play and a novella fill this debut collection as Dalton Mallery’s stories are full of dark and tragic characters in a harsh, unsympathetic world.
The Bridge is a single-paged melancholy story of loss and love. An annual event known as The Festival comes to town as a family has abstained for years after the death of their youngest daughter, but the older children go against their mother’s wishes to attend. A retelling from a lost story in The Old Testament of Jesus killing a child. An exorcism with twists and turns in the mountains of Mexico. A man in the desert is dragging a gift with him people are disgusted by. A one-act play about two brothers whose behavior worsens as a storm comes over the house. A father tries to find his missing son while a violent mountain lion has been spotted in their area. A framed man tells his awful life story and how he wound up in the hands of the authorities. A kidnapped boy bonds with his captor while on the run from a string of armed robberies. The famed Esteban is on his way to a brothel while his stories are shared to pass the time. During the fading of thunderous cannon fire during the civil war, a sister goes to the remnants of an old battlefield to fetch her dead brothers and bury them in the family plot. In the suburbs a boy falls in love with a girl who is everything he’s never had before and one night they decide to break into a house with consequences. Finally, a novella about underage addicts in 1980’s Seattle trying to live each day in this mosaic of stories.
With a poignant voice while standing in the dark, the stories will fade with lingering Echoes.
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Author Bio:
Dalton Mallery has written three books: two collections and one novel. He lives in Georgia where he continues to write.