Ron Carlson (Return to Oakpine), a grandmaster of American storytelling, has produced something new and exciting with The Blue Box. It's a collection of short short stories, some no longer than a page, most unlike anything Carlson has done before. They are whimsical and bizarre, starting and ending in odd places and rife with subtle touches of fantasy that wouldn't be out of place in a work of magical realism.
Carlson is usually known for his generous and compassionate view of humanity, his ability to capture the depths of a relationship with sharp dialogue and skillful scene setting. While those traits are evident here, this collection shows his playful side. Carlson has spent a lot of time in academia (he's currently the director of the fiction program at the University of California, Irvine) and that world falls under special scrutiny and lampooning in this collection. "In My True Style Guide," Carlson mocks both students and instructors with witty and weird suggestions on how to interpret teachers' grading comments.
One of the longer, more traditionally structured stories in the collection, "Teenagers Are Going Overnight to the Island Without Supervision," has a sense of mystery and menace that wouldn't be out of place in a slasher film. Many of the pieces are just dialogue, two people observed mid-conversation, mid-life, for a page or two. That Carlson can still manage formidable epiphanies and astute commentary on modern living in such compact space bears testament to his skills.
The Blue Box is undeniably fun, with stories that range far afield in subject and presentation; it's a slim, quick read with pleasures that outweigh its brevity. --Donald Powell, freelance writer