Not Pulling Any Punches
BY SHELLY BRYANT I February 3, 2011
Luc Reid. Bam! 172 Hellaciously Quick Stories. Smashwords 2010, ebook. 69566 words.
It's always refreshing to find an entertaining read that doesn't require you to check the brain in at the door, something that makes you laugh without requiring you to stop thinking in order to do so. Names of authors that come to mind when thinking of this kind of humor include Douglas Adams, Jasper Fforde, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett... funny people who keep the laughs coming, who present their stories in the most playful—even the silliest—of ways possible. It's only as you get into their writing that you realize, "Hey, this guy's really saying something, isn't he?"
With Bam! 172 Hellaciously Quick Stories, Luc Reid is making a bid to add his name to that list. The stories are indeed as short as the title suggests. Almost all can be read in less than five minutes. That's a good thing, because it is partly their brevity that puts power behind the punches. And the punches are thrown one after another—short, compact, power-packed, and coming right at you at high speed.
Reid's smart humor and eye for irony are sure to attract plenty of readers, and keep them perusing the collection at their leisure. The wit he employs in the stories is perfect for setting up the most poignant of stories—pieces like "Helmut, Deep in the Rock," "The Nature of the Key," and "The Wave's Second Day"—because just as you begin to anticipate more humor, the weight of what is being said sort of sneaks up on you. It makes for a great read.
There are several sub-series within the whole collection that make for a good change of pace from time to time. The series of pieces about what happens to Cinderella in her "happily ever after" is one of the most amusing parts of the whole collection, along with those featuring the Monkey God and Parthenia. Reid raises a question in a note at the beginning of the section entitled "Identity," inviting readers to take a stab at figuring out why the ocean keeps showing up in several of the tales in this segment of the collection. For me, the answer lies in the use of characters like Cinderella and Parthenia. The sea here seems almost like a living character around whom the tales are built, and s/he (it?) shows up in several of the stories, just like some of the stronger protagonists have done in other sections in the collection. That's my theory, anyway.
Not every story in Bam! will be a hit with every reader, of course. But there is enough to choose from amongst the 172 tales that everyone's sure to find a pretty wide selection of things to read, enjoy, and laugh over. It's a collection that makes for a great way to spend a few hours—unless you prefer to take it in a few minutes at a time. Part of the beauty of the collection is that either method of intake will be equally effective.
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