Erik Eckel

Do yourself a favor and familiarize yourself with Kevin Maloney. He’s a Portland (OR)-based author who’s also spent time working as a TJ Maxx associate, high school English teacher and web developer. What makes his stories and novels original and distinctive is he isn’t writing what the world thinks it wants to read. Instead, he’s composing compelling and arresting stories that, while maybe politically incorrect and raw, are genuine and authentic and provide him enjoyment.

Just why is he eschewing supposedly marketable material agents and publishers seek? Well, because he doesn’t find such writing faithful or fulfilling.

In a LitHub article he confessed the reward is related to “Something about the work itself… moving closer to truth, to language and characters and scenes that felt like they crackled with energy… that was the closest thing I’d ever experienced to God. My job wasn’t to figure out why. It was to keep pushing closer to that feeling. Even if it meant telling the same story, my story, over and over.”

And wow, is that strategy effective for Maloney. The stories collected within his new collection, Horse Girl Fever, are sincere and real, even uncomfortably so. I found it refreshing reading such an abrupt and honest voice. There’s true fulfillment to be had consuming his stories. They read as if they were effortlessly written, which means, of course, the author’s typically had to battle much anxiety, tumult and torment to produce such a work.

Most short stories I read are a little obtuse, require close reading and study and often explore the same common subjects. Not so with those collected within Horse Girl Fever.

These stories are short, quick-hitting and often turn on a dime. Yet, there are no gimmicks at play. Just anecdotes often accompanied with a hint of hope. I suppose the experience is similar to that were you to sit on a barstool next to Maloney chatting while having a beer and monitoring a football game playing on a TV in the corner.

So pull up your own chair. Dig into this collection. The stories are likely to waken something in your soul and connect you to another’s experience.

What resulted for me is the sneaking awareness we’re all battling similar doubts, regrets and fears, among other demons. Together, we just might get through our own individual difficulties. But we’re going to have to be honest with one another if we’re to get there.