Book review stop! Today I’m delighted to be the host for 50 States: a Collection of Short Short Stories, an anthology book written by R.R. Becker.
First thing first, let me thank the author and the publisher, Copywriter Ink, for providing me with an e-copy of this book. Much obliged *hat tip*
MEET THE BOOK
An Idaho farmer who aches for absolution after a tragedy is given one more chance at redemption. Two runaways cross paths in a Tennessee bus station with only one ticket between them. A family sees looters racing toward their home as they escape an Oregon wildfire. A young couple takes a reckless turn off a state highway in Utah and find themselves in a nightmarish government biohazard area.
These and 46 more shorts make up an anthology that will surprise readers with each new thought-provoking story as they skip across different genres, moods, and states of mind. Together, they provide a character-driven sampling of the American experience over the last 60 years — the kind and the cruel, the heroic and criminal — in unpredictable and suspenseful ways.
50 States is an award-winning debut collection of short stories that captures the human condition. It spans several literary genres with each short story set in a different state across America. The collection broke the top 100 bestsellers for literary fiction short stories for three consecutive months on Amazon in 2022 and won first place for short stories in the Spring 2022 BestFest Awards.
Short stories
358 pages
Copywriter Ink
Publication date: 21/06/21
Purchase links
READ MY REVIEW
Cover: It has a vintage feel, I like it.
I’ve been having an incredible string of bad luck, technology-wise, so my reviews are going to be on the concise side. Force majeure, as screen-freezes are more common than fleas on a dog. [Update: my PC is fixed; after cleaning up the backlog, things will go back to normal again]
Not sure I already mentioned it, but writing short stories is a hard and often thankless job. Each story needs to be small, concise, and to the point, with interesting characters and clever plots; in a way, it takes more skill to produce them than a single book.
Becker does a pretty good job with his 50 States. He has a good grasp of the technical aspects, a detail I always appreciate, and he’s been able to craft a few powerful ones; his MCs have beautiful backgrounds and interesting voices, too. I’m also thankful for the sparseness of the secondary characters–less is more, especially when it comes to short stories.
The only issue 50 States has got? Well, the very format of the book. Some stories pack a punch, while some others are less poignant.
4 stars on GR.
MEET THE AUTHOR
Richard R. Becker is an award-winning American author. His debut collection of literary fiction and psychological thrillers began as a project to write one story a week for 50 weeks. It became a literary short story bestseller for three consecutive months in 2022. It also won first place in the Spring 2022 BestFest Awards for short stories and ABR Book Excellence Award for literary fiction, psychological thriller, and short stories.
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