Order FEEDING KATE here
"Kev, I was sharpening knives when your pal got so out of line. I just happened to have it in my hand."
"You sharpen knives a lot of the time. I've noticed that." (L.Rodriguez, Rivka's Place)
Originally, FEEDING KATE was intended as a fundraiser for crime-lady-extraordinaire Sabrina Odgen, who needed jaw surgery her insurance company was being difficult about. It could have become a collector's item, I suppose. But it's not the case and FEEDING KATE is still being sold today with profits going to Lupus Foundation of America. It's a "you're doing good just by reading it" type of deal. It's a charity short story anthology, which means the quality of stories vary because since you are deliberately seeking the authors, you can't turn down their submissions without being an asshole. FEEDING KATE just happens to have a very high quality of shorts and its lineup happens to be a who's who of the genre fiction up-and-comers including names such as: Laura Benedict, Hilary Davidson, Chris F. Holm, Stephen Blackmoore, Dan O'Shea, Johnny Shaw, Joelle Charbonneau, Josh Stallings and Chuck Wendig. Impressive lineup, I know.
I have this theory about genre fiction that when female writers embrace it, they usually do it better than their male counterparts. FEEDING KATE is hard evidence of that. The ladies really knocked it out of the park, starting with Laura Benedict's bone chilling "The Hollow Woman", which is pitch-perfect psychological horror (you know how much I like psychological horror, right?) Hilary Davidson's "The Anniversary" is the other standout story, which is structured like a mystery, but is really just a straightforward drama. Both Benedict and Davidson's characters are one step ahead of the competition here. They are part of both author's greatest hits and have been published before though, so it's only fair that I mention it. The sheer character power of both stories though raised the hair on my arms. They're that strong. Joelle Charbonneau, Linda Rodriguez and Claire Toohey also delivered stories of a tremendous emotional range.
One funny quirk of having a short story collection of genre fiction that revolves around food themes is that there will be many stories about cannibalism. You think it'll be a great, original idea until you see it next to six or seven stories with the same twist. The one that really stood out to me was Ellie Anderson's "A Hungry Soul", which was nice because I didn't know anything about Mrs. Anderson before reading it. She uses cannibalism as a metaphor for the consumption of relationships that happens when somebody doesn't want to admit his or her issues. I still do not know much about Ellie Anderson, except that she has a great vision for storytelling. The internet is unfortunately very scarce about her writing career.
"My daddy woke up in a tree once."
I have no idea what to say to that so I don't say anything.
"We had to call the firemen to get him out. Then they took him to jail. Is that man going to jail?"
"No," I say. But if this kid doesn't shut up, I will.
"I have a hole in my shoe," the kid says.
God hates me.
(S.Blackmoore, Roach Coach)
I'm being an asshole, here. A short story collection isn't a competition. Like Stephen King said, they're like a grab bag. Some things will work for you, some things won't. There are stories from male writers that worked wonderfully well. Stephen Blackmoore's hilarious "Roach Coach" and Johnny Shaw's child P.I extraordinaire story stood out particularly for me. Honorable mention also to Chad Eagleton's, Josh Stallings and Kent Gowran's stories, that all had that extra edge too. Without naming names, there are maybe one or two stories in the lot that flat out didn't work, I thought. They aren't badly written or anything, but they feel a bit too straightforward and uninspired. That's something else you have to expect from charity anthology. Sometimes your contributors accept the invitation out of goodness of heart and squeeze a story between two other engagements and it ends up being flat. No big deal. Short story collections aren't life or death business for authors.
Bottom line is: you should read FEEDING KATE because there are several great stories in it. Of course you help a good cause by reading it, but you shouldn't buy or read garbage for any cause. FEEDING KATE sure is not garbage and by my experience of short story collections, it has a really, really high standard. Everybody was on their "A" game for Sabrina. It's a lot of fun to read and if you're looking to discover new voices, all the great new talents are there and swinging their hardest. It's a win-win situation. Sabrina wins, Lupus Foundation of America wins and above all things, you win for reading it. It's hard not to like the math.
FOUR STARS