Fiction. The 50 short-short stories are based on old-time games played in parlors, basements, and fields with balls, brooms, blindfolds, and cards. As winners and losers emerge from dodge ball, word games or balloon contests, so does the theme of our inner life as ceaseless competition.There is calculation, envy, humiliation and joy, and there is always the next round when Fiction. The 50 short-short stories are based on old-time games played in parlors, basements, and fields with balls, brooms, blindfolds, and cards. As winners and losers emerge from dodge ball, word games or balloon contests, so does the theme of our inner life as ceaseless competition.There is calculation, envy, humiliation and joy, and there is always the next round when everything might change.
Games and Stunts, a Book of Fiction
Fiction. The 50 short-short stories are based on old-time games played in parlors, basements, and fields with balls, brooms, blindfolds, and cards. As winners and losers emerge from dodge ball, word games or balloon contests, so does the theme of our inner life as ceaseless competition.There is calculation, envy, humiliation and joy, and there is always the next round when Fiction. The 50 short-short stories are based on old-time games played in parlors, basements, and fields with balls, brooms, blindfolds, and cards. As winners and losers emerge from dodge ball, word games or balloon contests, so does the theme of our inner life as ceaseless competition.There is calculation, envy, humiliation and joy, and there is always the next round when everything might change.
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John Madera –
Manual of strange amusements and entertainments, or evocative collection of linked stories, or both, Albert Mobilio’s Games & Stunts shows us how fun “tennis without a net” can actually be. Here a group, of adult-like children or childlike adults, assembles to play, the raw materials of games, whether objects, balls, sticks, cards, etc., or body parts, or simply words (puns, polysyllabics, word endings, etc.) used to dissolve the boundaries between the so-called real and so-called unreal. “It’s Manual of strange amusements and entertainments, or evocative collection of linked stories, or both, Albert Mobilio’s Games & Stunts shows us how fun “tennis without a net” can actually be. Here a group, of adult-like children or childlike adults, assembles to play, the raw materials of games, whether objects, balls, sticks, cards, etc., or body parts, or simply words (puns, polysyllabics, word endings, etc.) used to dissolve the boundaries between the so-called real and so-called unreal. “It’s good to escape even if the act is mere simulacrum,” we’re told at one point—commentary on the act of reading and writing, themselves, both acts at best forms of playacting, albeit with representations and substitutes. Playful as each story is in Games & Stunts, though, melancholy, mystery, and something outright sinister is suffused throughout, which is true, after all, of much of the games we play. Highly recommended. Oh, and publishing it on April Fool's Day was a nice touch.
Laura –
Delicious wicked merciless subtle charming and sooooo much fun. A brilliant collection of linked stories in the form of a book of instructions for games new and old; in the Calvino & Coover tradition with a spin that is all Mobilio's own: love this! Delicious wicked merciless subtle charming and sooooo much fun. A brilliant collection of linked stories in the form of a book of instructions for games new and old; in the Calvino & Coover tradition with a spin that is all Mobilio's own: love this!
James –
A weird, endearing little book that doesn't quite know what it is. There are a lot of funny moments (the humor is influenced by The Simpsons, among others). Of course, none of the games/stunts are meant to be recreated, but I found the most interesting ones could be. The least interesting thread of the book was the named characters (Frank, Jack, Jess, Bean) who were difficult to tell apart and had vague, uninteresting relationships with one another. They kind of broke the illusion of the book as A weird, endearing little book that doesn't quite know what it is. There are a lot of funny moments (the humor is influenced by The Simpsons, among others). Of course, none of the games/stunts are meant to be recreated, but I found the most interesting ones could be. The least interesting thread of the book was the named characters (Frank, Jack, Jess, Bean) who were difficult to tell apart and had vague, uninteresting relationships with one another. They kind of broke the illusion of the book as a manual or rainy-day book. I really liked about 10 of the 47 games/stunts/stories/entries in the book. The rest were meh.
John –
Debra –
Tim –
Mary M –
Dooflow –
Pedro –
Ned Summers –
Jean –