So Different Now

by Ben Tanzer

In 2008, the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography was proud to kick off its new publishing program with the release of Ben Tanzer's Repetition Patterns, dark stories about childhood and twentysomething repercussions all set in a small town in upstate New York similar to the one where Tanzer grew up; and now CCLaP is equally proud to release part two of this story cycle, entitled So Different Now. Set in the same town where Repetition Patterns takes place, and sometimes featuring even the same characters from the first book, these stories instead mostly concern themselves with the issues facing these people as they enter middle-age, taking Tanzer's astute use of popular culture and his fondness for black plotlines to deliver a stunning meditation on aging, maturing, and the struggle to do the "right thing" in the face of sometimes not understanding what that even is. Sure to both delight and horrify in equal measures, these interconnected short pieces (nearly all of them originally published in various literary magazines in the three years leading up to this collection) easily have the capacity of getting under your skin in a deep and profound way, and you are guaranteed to remember their exquisite language and ambiguous morality for a long time to come. Download it for free at [cclapcenter.com/different].

Genres: Short Stories

42 pages, ebook

First published December 6, 2011

About the author

Emmy-award winner Ben Tanzer's acclaimed work includes the short story collection UPSTATE, the science fiction novel Orphans and the essay collections Lost in Space and Be Cool. His recent novel The Missing was released in March 2024 by 7.13 Books and was a Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year finalist in the category of Traditional Fiction and his new book After Hours: Scorsese, Grief and the Grammar of Cinema, which Kirkus Reviews calls "A heartfelt if overstuffed tribute to the author’s father and the ameliorative power of art," was released by Ig Publishing in May 2025. Ben is also the host of the long running podcast This Podcast Will Change Your Life and lives in Chicago with his family.

Reviews

[Lavinia Ludlow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review here:

http://smallpressreviews.wordpress.co...

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again Tanzer makes me nostalgic for a past that isn't mine while putting me in a present I'm not sure I want to be in, yet greedily don't want to look away from. I can't believe I missed that this was out there, only realizing there was a second volume when "After the Flood" dropped recently. I grabbed this one as soon as I realized, and "After the Flood" as well. And these stories only whet my appetite more for "After the Flood." They make me feel raw, not in execution (because they are definitely well crafted) but in the emotional state evoked while reading. Tanzer has some breathtaking endings in some of these as well, heavy gut shots there was no way I could see coming but might fight someone if they suggested it could be any other way. Bottom line? Heavy stories. Heavy and great. I'm already itching to dig into "After the Flood," but I'm going to sit and savor these ones a few days first. They deserve it.

[Caleb Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tanzer has a way of describing innocent sexual tension like nobody I've ever read. If this were an autobiography, I would think of Tanzer as a guy who has a lot of female friends, is physically attracted to them, but must maintain that he is not in order to keep his marriage together.

For the record, as far as I know, this is not an autobiographical collection.

[Ben]

It changed my life.

[Jason Donnelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Opened up his book, So Different Now, last night and it was finished an hour after I woke up this morning. When I first started reading this short story book, I thought that the stories sounded familiar, because a lot of them are focused around the locations and subject material from the earlier reviewed book, My Fathers House, then I read further.

This isn't a short story book, or even a linked story book, per se, it's a book about a bar named, Thirsty's. It's about seeing little vignettes of our life fly by, but no matter what, there's a location that is always 'home.' Do you have this? I'm pretty sure Ben's is Thirsty's.

In short, So Different Now is a super fast read, and it'll knock you on your ass. Every story is poignant and ridiculously well written. Like Ray Carver, Tanzer knows how to show little pieces of our life that make us who we are and crush our expectations.

[Benoit Lelièvre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stories range from good to exceptional. SO DIFFERENT NOW, STEVEY, COOL,NOT REMOVED and GODDESS are amazing material. I've reviewed Ben Tanzer before, but this material is in a whole different league. It has staying power and not unlike Haruki Murakami, Ben Tanzer is about to outline these difficult and haunting feelings of our formative year. This is beautiful, literature at its best.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently finished this one over a couple of cold beers at Thirsty's. While most (all?) of these stories are included in New York Stories, I enjoyed revisiting them again in the stand alone So Different Now format. A great place to start with Tanzer's work and a necessary stop for the Tanzer completists.

[Joey Pizzolato · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I had to sum it up in one word: real.

But I have a full review up on Curbside Splendor Publishing's blog here: http://www.curbsidesplendor.com/curbs...

[Jason Fisk · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://jasonfisk.blogspot.com/2011/12...

[Leesa · Rating 5 out of 5]

MY SUMMER OF TANZER. Ok so I loved these. Ok so you prolly already knew that. What I love so much about Ben's writing = the *almosts.* People almost kiss, things almost happen...the narrators think about how their lives would be different if the almost had happened...if things were different. The stories feel bigger than they are. Ben's endings are sublime, his endings are just so perfect & beautiful. I loved the ending of the story "So Different Now" (& the whole story). I loved the ending of "In A Single Bound" (& the whole story). I love the story "Panties" a lot, a lot. The ending of "Never Said" was a gut-punch too. In the last story "No Nothing" ... a man builds a coffin for his father. Ben writes "I go to the lumber yard to buy the wood I need, and then stop by Giant on the way home for a case of Yuengling. I spend the night in my garage sanding, planning and assembling the coffin." Tiny moments, huge feels, always. The end of "No Nothing" was just so good, so good. Ben writes these really intimate emotional stories abt desire and sex and love and loss and sadness and friendship that I can find myself in...even when the narrator is a dude from a city I've never been to. I find myself in them b/c I'm a human w/a beating heart & they are goood & I love them.

[Xian Xian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's another Ben Tanzer story collection, apparently there's suppose to be a third, I think, I don't know. It's the same thing like Repetition Patterns, but I think it's a lot better than the previous one.

So again, this will be another short review since the stories are short. Again Ben Tanzer's writing is very readable and it's hard to put down, I literally finished this last night, well actually it was 1:00AM, but I finished it, and the stories were so sad and raw. It doesn't really focus too much on the suburban life like the last one, this one is more prevalent with the theme of young men growing up and changing, where the smallest thing can change your life forever. Not only is So Different Now the name of one of the stories, but it seems like it's also the theme, who you marry, who you choose to ignore or bring into your life, and whoever you know that dies, your actions will make the roads of your change. And well, everything becomes more different than it was then.

Rating:4/5

http://wordsnotesandfiction.blogspot....

[Joseph Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ben Tanzer is one of the most efficient writers working. This is an excellent collection filled with Tanzer's wham/bam (I hope)/thank you ma'm (anyway) themed stories. You read Ben and watch the wonderous variations he works on this subject and laugh at the surprising situations his characters get in: like the guy who goes to the drive-in movie theater in his buddy's trunk stuck in there with the girl of his dreams. There are also poignant stories about sons and fathers (another familiar Tanzerian trope). His style all pared down dialogue goes is reminiscent of Kipling's.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid collection of Binghamton stories, as teenagers move into adulthood yet never quite leave their high school years behind.

[Jason Pettus · Rating 5 out of 5]

FTC DISCLOSURE: I am the publisher of this book.