PEN Award-winning children's author and poet Ron Koertge (Coaltown Jesus) tried his hand at crafting flash-fiction pieces, and few might have guessed how witty and potently shocking his wry take on the dark underbelly of human nature would get. This collection of 57 ultra-short stories demonstrates that Koertge has mastered a format in which two pages must reveal as much vulnerability and pain as a full novel can.
The stories are varied: a troll's demise at the hands of a tough-to-break billy goat, a Valley girl's retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, Lois Lane's secret desire to temper Superman's libido. In "A Matter of Time," a young girl plays dress-up with her brutally murdered mother's clothing, only to receive strange phone calls in a deadly plot twist. In "The Willful Crayon," a series of sadistic scenarios unfold within the confines of a coloring book at the scribble of a choice crayon. Koertge also plays on mythology with two pieces dedicated to the Greek god Hades. A dead doctor hoping to return from the underworld and publish his research findings receives a rude awakening in "Full of Shadows, Without Sunlight or Hope" while Persephone tells the story of her imprisonment in in "Mothers and Daughters."
Sex World will simultaneously shock, tickle the funny bone, provoke grief and inspire hope with some clever asides and knowing winks to the reader. "Sex" may appear in the title, but the heart of the collection lies in uneasy alliances and human vices and vulnerabilities rendered poetic by a few choice words. --Nancy Powell, freelance writer and technical consultant