Country: USA
Genre: Hardboiled/Pulp Fiction
Pages: 154 kb (eOriginal)
Order THE EDUCATION OF A PULP WRITER here
Other David Cranmer Books Reviewed:
The Adventures of Cash Laramie & Gideon Miles (2011)
The Adventures of Cash Laramie & Gideon Miles Vol. II (2011)
"Did you and your husband argue on the day you last saw him?"
"Son, we have been married for forty years, we argue plenty. So yes, it's very likely we quarreled that day."
"Do you remember what you may have argued about?"
"Undoubtedly the same old thing. Laziness and broken promises. All he does is sit in this chair and watch TV and sleep. He swore that when he retired, we would travel. But that day came and went and nothing changed."
Comes a time in every writer's career, when he has enough material published in magazines to publish an anthology. This is a very tricky thing to do, because short story collections are best read when they have conducting line of thought. Scattered stories about everything and nothing require more focus and stamina than most readers are ready to give. So that makes THE EDUCATION OF A PULP WRITER impressive just by being successful. I have to say I'm not that surprised, though. The work of David Cranmer has always been very cohesive and his vision homogeneous, no matter what era or planet he bases his characters on. Cranmer writes in such a way, you know almost instinctively a story is his, after a few lines. It's something that goes beyond "having a voice". Cranmer sure has one, but he has a particular universe, where his characters exist. THE EDUCATION OF A PULP WRITER has some shakier stories, which are the trademark of "early years" short story collections, but it's not detrimental to its overall quality. It's an early glimpse at a great talent.
The collection opens with a story called BLUBBER, about a girl resorting to prostitution through Craigslist to make some money, only to be confronted by the gnarly nature of her new job. This looks like a good-but-straightforward cautionary tale, until halfway, when Cranmer decides to put his signature twist on it and blur the moral boundaries. While most stories you'll read about a crime or a tragedy are about that particular occurrence in itself, Cranmer stories are never really about that. The occurrence takes the backseat to the character's path that lead him to his predicament. He blends straightforward plot and character development in a way that is his and his only. The very short, but moving MINNOW ESCAPE casts a shining light in a characters hour of darkness. The story is way too short to be characterization-heavy, it's the well-studied clash of two images that bears the emotional weight and makes the story so strong.
I've talked before about David Cranmer's CLOUDS IN A BUNKER, which won the Dead End Follies Best Short Story Award for 2011. It was the best short I've read in 2011 and it's the best short in his collection. Rereading it with a year and a hundred books of perspective changed nothing to the crushing emotional weight it bears. For those who aren't familiar with this pulverizingly good story, it's about an elderly man, who took his wife hostage. Both suffer from senile dementia, but the husband is still able to think clearly at times, and wants to keep the authorities from taking his wife away. If you've ever had to say goodbye to elderly relatives you love, CLOUDS IN A BUNKER will put your heart in a meat grinder. You will never look at your grandparents the same way again. A lot of people will remember THE EDUCATION OF A PULP WRITER, only for this story.
"Daddy?"
"Yes, Coconut."
"You remember my nickname."
"How could I forget?"
Tears streaked down Anna's cheek and over her fingers clutching the phone.
"Daddy, why are you doing this?"
"I always promised to take care of your mother and now they want to take that away from me. Put us both in a home."
"I know. Remember, I talked to Dr. Meyers about placing you in Graceful Acres."
Static popped and hissed on the lines making the conversation seem like a thousand miles away instead of two feet. "Daddy...Daddy?"
Most writers would've failed at making an "early years" short story collection compelling, but David Cranmer succeeded. His work is highly cohesive, no matter the era it's about. His characters all live in the same world and all seem related, like multiple generations of a cursed family. Few writers can pull that off, but Cranmer did. THE EDUCATION OF A PULP WRITER is testimony to an extraordinary talent, breaking away from the shackles of insecurity. The quality of stories vary, but it's exhilarating to read, sometimes right in the middle of a story, the exact point where Cranmer finds himself and his story takes off. It takes a stomach for organic beauty to appreciate, but it's something many will appreciate, just for the sheer power the stories get when they find their aim. So it's not just a scatter shoot of early material, it's the take-off of a terrific writer.
THREE STARS