Story Unlikely“The Only Act She Kept” by Dana Wall
“A Most Consistent Vampire” by M.D. Smith IV
Reviewed by David Wesley Hill
Early-onset Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease. My mother died of it. From a beautiful, devilishly-intelligent woman who did the Sunday New York Times crossword in pen, she became ever more lost, forgetting who she was and how to feed herself, dying slowly for years and years. There was nothing remotely graceful about the process, which is why I had a hard time engaging my willing suspension of disbelief while reading “The Only Act She Kept” by Dana Wall, the first June offering of Story Unlikely. The sheer lyricism of the author’s prose, told from the viewpoint of a woman suffering from the disease, is, to me, at odds with the brutal reality of the pathology, which breaks language down into its most basic components, and then strips away even these remnants of reason. From my experience, the story just doesn’t ring true, although I can say it’s a sad and haunting read, and taught me about the artist Alexander Calder and his titular installation, a movable miniature model of a circus, the Cirque Calder. Interesting!
Next up is a silly bit of whimsy, the flash fiction “A Most Consistent Vampire” by M.D. Smith IV, which tells the story of Victor Trenchwick, a vampire who is consistently … incompetent. Nothing about the tale really makes sense, but it’s a fun read, a little inanity to lighten your day. Worth five minutes of your time!