In Robert Scotellaro’s latest collection of gems, “What Are the Chances” he tells us the chances that way only he could write of lovers, friends, family, and more in a way that leaves you shaking your head in wonderment with these fast-paced stories filled to the brim with originality condensed with twists and turns and wanting more—not because the stories aren’t complete but from the shear enjoyment of a master wordsmith.
“Chances are . . .”
The opening story, “The Tiniest Fish,” will hook you big time right off the bat, and a man visits his blind friend and blindfolds himself to try and understand his friend’s feelings as they start ‘watching’ a boxing match with the blind man giving a running commentary—and it’s accurate, then there’s the wife who can’t shake the image of her husband eye-fucking her younger sister and all the while she’s making meatballs in the shape of lion’s heads she’s shooting barbed comments at him while the son’s listening and he tells the boy, “They’re different. Women are not like us” and you know that the boy will carry these words with him throughout his life. There’s the school shooter and you’re in the moment when, with rifle in hand he kicks open a bathroom stall and sees his classmate who once lent him a pencil with tooth marks.
“When I sigh, hold me close dear. . .”
The bar scene of a lady deciding whether she’s going to go home with a guy from the bar or not and since her feet hurt she thinks to herself, “I’ve got a purse full of band-aids and a night full of time”—which may just be my favorite line in a book loaded with great lines. And there’s a wife who celebrates becoming an empty nester by putting up fun house mirrors in her bedroom to spice up her and her husband’s sex life, and a couple driving to see family stop off at a motel and get a room right next to where a porno film is being filmed. The walls are thin and they’re dressed to go out for dinner and she’s complaining about how dreadful they have to listen through the paper-thin walls at the goings on and maybe they should call someone and she begins to undress.
“In the magic of the moonlight . . .”
Ex-girlfriend leaves cactus plants behind that ex-boyfriend is leery of, shows up and tells him she’s now with a Christian Rock Band, but in the meantime she could use a hookup and his dog is trying his damnest to get two tennis balls in his mouth at once and failing but the hookup . .
“Chances are awfully good . . .”
that his is a book you’ll read over and over so get two because you won’t want to lend this baby out. Robert Scotellaro shows us why and how he’s a master at his craft.
Order here: https://www.press53.com/robert-scotellaro?fbclid=IwAR2u-mZl-8dcRLz-RJXXRjsLOexpe9dH9HU5Ld5eqPfALoatx8LcAhrHLZw
Paul Beckman lives in a small shoreline town in Connecticut with his wife Sandra. Their blended family of five children has to date produced ten grandchildren. In 1999, Paul received his MFA from Bennington College while working full time in the real estate business from which he now retired. He has also been a restaurateur, bartender, pin setter, carpenter, Teamster, Air Traffic Controller, numbers runner, builder, butcher and paper boy amongst other callings in his life. Some of his passions are traveling, photography, snorkeling, diving and of course reading. His recently had a collection of Flash and Micro Fiction published in print and online “Maybe I Ought to Sit In a Dark Room For a While” and continues to write and have his work published both in print and online. His first published collection was Come! Meet My Family and other stories. He is a member of PEN USA. Paul is pleased to have his work published in New Zealand, surprised to have it translated into two German anthologies of Humor by Jewish Writers and thrilled to have several of his short stories turned into plays. Additionally he’s been published in Great Britain,Sweden, Prague, Canada, India and Australia.