Deep South stories and getting deeper
Brad Watson may live in Laramie, Wyo. these days, but the Mississippi native remains as Southern as kudzu. With his latest, the prize-winning short-story writer (Last Days of the Dog-Men) and National Book Award finalist (The Heaven of Mercury) offers 12 new stories mostly set in (or in the spirit of) home state.
Watson has a sly hand with a short story. A piece like table-setter “Vacuum” rattles the giggle box. The title tale lands from outer space, complete with aliens dressed like your Aunt Nette and Uncle Bobby. “Fallen Nellie,” the tale of a female corpse, rode hard and put up wet, is uncomfortably memorable.
After notable 2009 collections by Alice Munro, Elizabeth Strout and others, a Christian Science Monitor essay recently suggested 2009 was “the year of the short story.” Aliens shows we’re still its age of excellence.