Howdy, all,
Bit of a different post this morning. Not sure if the mods will be into it.
I’ve gotten in the habit of definitely-not-hoarding-no-way random short story anthologies from the thrift stores I totally randomly find myself in several times a week.
The Pushcart anthologies are hands-down the best of these totally serendipitous gleanings.
Flipping through one of the very, very few collections I’ve taken home this month, I landed on “Cocktail Hour” by Kate Braverman. It was bedtime. I figured I’d make it two or three ¶s.
20 minutes later I emerged from a complete bookspell, laughcrying and agog. I’m not sure what her secret sauce was, but I was thrall to her dialogue absolutely. She had that rare Saundersian knack of compassionate lampooning. Her characters are *just* extra enough to captivate without setting readers’ bullshit detectors off.
[Here it is for you!](https://newworldwriting.net/back/2010-weekly/kate-braverman/) The piece won a Pushcart Prize in 2008 and made it into the org’s Best of the Small Presses anthology. If you check it out, pop back in with some more constructive feedback than I’ve been able to muster on my way out the door. Cheers.
by mostdefinitelyabot