Review: Pulp Fly: Volume 2

I don't read as much as I want to. Part of that is the demands of work and family but my writing is also stealing cycles. And did I mention the work? And the occasional fishing trip? Fortunately, some time at the beach gave me quiet moments to read and I burned through a couple of books.

My favorite was the latest volume of Pulp Fly. As I wrote last fall, Pulp Fly is a new venue for writers to present fiction related to our sport. This issue is a compilation of short stories from twelve authors. I found the quality of writing in the first volume to be variable. This volume seems much stronger. I'm not sure if that has to do with the stable of writers or the emerging editorial voice. I suspect it's both.

Some of these stories are smart observances of the sport. Tosh Brown's Somewhere Out West gives voice to what I'm sure many a fly fishing guide has thought (and perhaps some have said).

There's also a dark streak in this volume with tragedy befalling and surrounding some of the characters. Flow by Alex Landeen, Hot Sauce Diary by Will Rice, and Frank was a very dull implement by Matt Dunn cover the landscape of suicide, murder and fear of murder (and fear of outhouse tipping).

And the whole thing starts off with an essay from Erin Block (Fireweed) whose literary sense and turn of phrase doesn't disappoint.

In addition, who can resist anything that includes a story about Sasquatch (Lone Lake by Chris Hunt).

Well worth the price of admission.

Pulp Fly: Volume 2, $6.95, Available on Amazon for Kindle, Barnes and Noble for the Nook and iTunes for whatever the heck Apple uses to publish books on their path towards total world domination.

Full Disclosure: I'm writing a piece of fiction for Volume 3 (available later this year) and I happen to like some of the folks who were published in this volume. That may skew my point of view slightly. Please adjust my praise by 13%