Stories by Jason Storbakken
Paintings by Pairoj Pichetmetakul
Like the subtitle suggests, this is a book of individual stories you can read quickly anytime and anywhere, on the subway or on a plane, at the doctor’s office or while waiting for your kid to finish baseball practice, at a stoplight or any railroad crossing. And the stories are fantastical, imaginative musings about people and aliens getting caught in strange happenings deep within the New York subway system. And though the stories seem unrelated, there is a hidden connection underlying them all (kind of like the New York subway system).
I was intrigued by the author of this book, a Mennonite pastor who works at the Bowery Mission in New York City. He compiled these stories after telling them to his children while waiting for trains in the city. I encourage you to pick up this book and journey with this author into an imaginative alter-reality. You’ll catch glimpses of all kinds of strange happenings, from Mr. Miller judging a man for having no subway fare when in reality the man was only trying to attend the birth of his child, to the competing voices of several local music groups of different genres fighting over who’s the best until they all merge together in their common love for music, to meeting Capac, an alien who learned to draw courage from “a wellspring that connected her to a river of life that linked all sentient beings.” This type of fantasy usually isn’t my favorite genre, yet it drew me in and opened me up to “an ocean of shared consciousness that ebbs and flows through the multiverses like breath.” Despite the obscurity, I believe the author is trying to bring (as stated on the last page) joy, hope, and courage into a world filled with sorrow, despair, and fear.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the author and/or publisher through the Speakeasy blogging book review network. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR,Part 255.
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