A fast, funny, and wholly satisfying compilation of short stories filled with the same rich detail, witty humor, jagged verbal jousting, and joyous intellectual tête-à-tête that are Ann McMan's calling cards. Reconnect with Syd, Maddie, and the Jericho gang in "V1: A Valentine's Day Odyssey," as a sweet and simple gesture of love ignites a conflagration that could destroy friends, lovers, and a professional-grade mixer named Gloria. Meet Kate Winston, Shawn Harris, and the best, brightest, and most uniquely "gifted" personalities in contemporary lesfic, in the all-new novella, Bottle Rocket. Grace and Abbie screw up the courage to let themselves go for one magical night-only to find that the Fates are cheeky little bitches with a wicked sense of humor in "Falling from Grace." Take flight with Poe's celebrated raven in "Nevermore!" as two improbable coworkers, Diz and Clarissa, find friendship and maybe a bit more in a comic holiday romp set to the dulcet tones of Enya. Features a foreword by The Rainbow Reader's Salem West. Sidecar carries a bounty of fun, a bit of pathos, and a few fine wine recommendations.
College at an indifferent liberal arts institution taught Ann McMan that understanding subject/verb agreement was not enough to secure her fame and fortune. After graduation, she got a job driving a young adult bookmobile—and spent her days piloting the great rig across the dusty back roads of rural North Carolina. Her duties included making certain that the mobile library always contained at least six copies of "Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret", visiting the county detention unit (it was a great way to catch up with her brothers), and showing public service films about safe sex to pre-teens at 4-H Clubs all across her part of “The New South.”
Soon, the allure of higher education coaxed Ann back to school. For the past three decades, Ann has worked at a succession of premier institutions, designing marketing and advancement materials that promote, promulgate, and extol the benefits of indifferent liberal arts education.
Somebody has to do it.
All this time, she continued to write. And when, at the ripe old age of thirty, she realized that she was not like other girls, the great world of lesbian literature opened its arms, and provided her with a safe haven in which to grow and learn about her new identity. She will forever be indebted to those literary pioneers who had the courage, the talent, and the temerity to gift us all with an art form of our own. Ann’s first and subsequent attempts at writing lesbian fiction have been heartfelt attempts to pay that great gift forward.
Ann McMan is the author of three novels, JERICHO, DUST, and AFTERMATH–and the story collection SIDECAR.
In 2011, Ann, along with her novels JERICHO and DUST and her short story “I Saw Xena Kissing Senticles” were elected to The Royal Academy of Bards Hall of Fame. In 2012, she was awarded the Alice B. Lavender Certificate.
BACKCAST, further adventures of the CLIT-Con 13 (that zany cast of authors from SIDECAR’s “Bottle Rocket”) will be released in 2013.
3 1/2 Stars overall. This is a book of four short stories from Ann McMan. This was a bit up and down for me, two stories I really liked and two that were just okay.
V1 = 3 Stars: V1 is a short that take place after Jericho. I still have not read Jericho yet, though I have wanted to for ages. And while I normally never read books out of order, I made an exception, since I wanted to read the other shorts in this book. Unfortunately, I liked this short the least. I approached this as a self contained short and that I was meeting the characters for the first time. Maybe that was part of the issue, but I found that this short really did not go anywhere. While I liked both characters, they did not have a chance to shine in this short. Funny, instead of having the opposite affect, I actually want to read Jericho more now, at least I know I will like the two mains.
Bottle Rocket = 4 Stars: Bottle Rocket, was my favorite of the 4 shorts. I loved the bickering and fighting between the two mains that turned into chemistry. It was really well done and playful. This short was also funny. My one issue was the ending. It was so over the top and crazy, that it caused the short to loose a half star.
Fall From Grace = 3 Stars: While there was nothing wrong with Fall From Grace, I just felt like there was nothing new either. We have read this kind of story before, plenty of times. Maybe if this was a full length story, I could have gotten into it more.
Nevermore = 4 Stars: I enjoyed this short quite a bit. The characters Diz and Clarissa were very likeable, especially Diz. I thought it was funny how people kept mistaking Diz for Rachel Maddow. What was good about that is I had an exact picture of what Diz looked like. This short was absolutely begging for a full length book. It does end abruptly, but it gives the reader hope. I do know there are a couple other shorts with Diz and Clarissa, in them. I look forward to finding out how their story really ends.
Sidecar by Ann McMan is a short story collection that’s not to be missed. I had wondered how she went from Jericho’s expansive style to the tight pacing and plotting of Aftermath, and now it’s clear to me: the four pieces in Sidecar are perfect examples of concise, yet fulfilling storytelling.
I always enjoy Ann McMan's writing. It's funny, but doesn't make the mistake of becoming immature like many other authors who rely on humor often do. I will say that the second short story here, Bottle Rocket, went a little far into the absurd for my tastes, but only at the end. The rest of it was quite enjoyable.
Two of the stories have connections to other Ann McMan books, so they were nice additions to characters I already know. The other two, however, do not offer this advantage. I really enjoyed those two the most, but was left feeling the way I usually do after a short story - I didn't have enough time with characters I really liked.
This is an enjoyable offering of 4 short stories, Ann McMan style. The stories contained interesting characters that you'll wish there were novels about, and some great laugh-out-loud moments. It is evident that Ann continues to grow and diversify as a writer and the intelligent stories she gives us here are proof. If you liked her other books, this is a must read. If you haven't read her other books but want to peek to see if you like her writing style, you can't go wrong with this.
I have read a couple of this writer's books (Jericho & Bottle Rocket) before and so while I read the foreword I smiled, nodded and prepared to fill the next few hours of my time with absolute wittiness and I dare say I was not dissapointed. This author shows in her writing a high know-how of the English language in very comical ways, giving her characters life within the imaginations of her readers. This book is a compilation of supposed short stories but stories deserving of their own books therfore making this book a worthy substance and appreciated companion for self proclaiming bibliophiles like me :)
Sidecar is a triple dose of Ann McMan's special brand of warm humor. It's sweet and it's cuddly and it's laugh out loud funny. I enjoyed all three stories, but really loved "Bottle Rocket." If you haven't tried this author yet, you're really missing out.
I knew already three of the four stories from earlier online versions. Still, the one remaing story "Bottle Rocket" alone made this book worth the read. The humour is priceless!
I will be very honest about this: I am a big fan of Ann McMan's books. I am never disappointed, and I was pleasantly surprised that I also enjoyed these four short stories in "Sidecar" as much as I did. Each story can stand on its own, but what is really cool is that three of the four short stories were actually prequels to full-length novels. "Bottle Rocket" is a prequel to "Backcast." I finished the short story first. It made the novel even more enjoyable. "Falling From Grace" is the prequel to "Beowulf for Cretins," which I now must read, and "Nevermore" is the prequel to "Three Plus One," which I also enjoyed very much. "A Valentine's Day Odyssey," another hysterical tale, is a stand-alone short story with the characters from "Jericho," one of Ann McMan's most recognized novels. So this little adventure with reading "Sidecar" was like a delicious appetizer before a great meal or like a wonderful dessert after a great meal. No matter how or when you read these stories, you will be totally satisfied.
A nice fast read as a collection of short stories. Though I gave 3 stars overall, each of the stories really deserves its own overview as they were very totally unrelated to one another.
V1 -- I did not read Jericho so I did not realize this was a sequel of sorts -- there was definitely a self-referential feel to it, that had me searching out if it was in fact a continuation of another story. It is too bad really, because it was a fine stand alone. I enjoyed the story of these two women and their preparations for Valentines, but I would have enjoyed it more if I didn't feel like I had missed part of the story. Without the explicit references to what I assume is the other story things would have flowed just as easily and in fact would have made a much better reading experience for the uninitiated: the reference in chapter 4 to their previous stint in the guest suite at the local inn for example -- the very pointed mention of something so specific as red, Dr. Denton footie pajamas completely took me out of the story as I had no idea what was being referred to, and it was completely unnecessary to the overall plot line.
Bottle rocket -- this was the stand out of the whole collection. Hilarious, with lots of lesbian pop culture references and send ups of the tropes of lesbian romances. The description of the CLIT-Con (I assume a stand-in for GCLS) was really laugh out loud funny. The cycling through all the "different" genres of les-fic with the same blurb was a riot and very pointedly accurate. The names of the authors, especially V. Jay-Jay, were also amusing and very much in keeping with some of the most extreme excesses in les-fic. Though the romance was predictable from the very first moment, the development was cute and well written. With the exception of the epilogue, which seemed out of place, and which I admit to not really understanding the point of, this story alone merits 5 stars.
Falling from Grace -- a pretty typical outing really. My only complaint is really more general than this one author -- she used a very common trope of a seemingly straight girl falling for an established lesbian. I really wish that once in all of these "my husband died/left me/i left him/etc and I went on to express my true self hidden all these years" stories, the woman who goes on to have an affair with another woman self-identified as bi. The story would have been just as hot, just as interesting if the answer to the question "You've been with women before?" had been "yes" rather than "define 'been with'", especially given how strong Abbie was coming on before that moment. Aside from the fact that the "straight girl/lesbian" trope is boring and done to death, why can't anyone just be bi in these stories. Bi-ness is real and a real part of many lesbian's lives (in that they know bi people); being bi does not stop you from spending your life with a woman; being straight, however, does and should do so in our literature as well. It would be so refreshing if the character who previously had a husband, had also previously taken seriously all the times she fooled around with her college roommate, and acknowledged both parts of herself before falling helplessly in love with another woman through the course of the romance.
Nevermore! -- see above for the most part -- though there is no real description of the sexuality of the object d'amour, given that it is told completely from the narrator's point of view. Because I enjoy the writing of these stories so much, I am going to give Ann McMan the benefit of the doubt and assume that Diz did not magically turn Clarissa into a raging lesbian.
Really it was my disappointment with the last two stories, and my disconnect with the first one that made me give this collection 3 stars. The writing is very good -- I picked up a poorly written book after reading this one, and had to stop after a few pages because the contrast in writing quality was too great. It was limiting my ability to enjoy or ever read the new story due to the freshness of the quality of the fine writing in this collection in my mind. I am planning to add Ann McMan to my list of must watch out for.
I had a _lot_ of resistance to reading this book. The first novella, "V1," is touted on back cover as "Reconnect with Syd, Maddie, and the _Jericho_ gang in...." However, I've never read _Jericho_, and the author does not do the new reader the kindness of providing any sort of précis of that book.
The characters are not described -- _nothing_ is described. There are these witty talking heads who seem to have no bodies, no gestures, no physical presence at all. Maybe if I'd read _Jericho_, I'd love this, but I haven't -- and that makes this a very difficult slog.
Halfway through V1 I'd doped out that one is blonde, and one's a doctor (?) and the other's a librarian, teacher, or both. And they have these gay (?) male friends, one of whom might be the doctor's brother (?). Dunno. I was floundering around and not enjoying the book. Writing was competent otherwise. I found sloppy editing in a couple of places (missing words, mostly).
There was a lot of slapstick in the hilarity that climaxed in Chapter 4 of V1. It was okay, but because I never became engaged emotionally with any of these characters, it didn't work for me. The "smart" doctor came across as exceeding presumptuous and arrogant. I didn't feel for her at all. The ending, I guess, was sweet. Or if I'd read the original book, maybe I'd think so.
They always tell young writers to "write about what they know," but McMan seems to take this to mean that we readers are eager to hear about the imaginary adventures of lesbian authors who live in a parallel universe in which they are extremely successful and talented. I say imaginary because McMan doesn't display the degree of talent and skill that would be required to reach such literary heights.
"Bottle Rocket" seems like an imaginary cathartic aimed at soothing her hurt over previous negative reviews. The world of lesbian publishing pictured in the story is so far from the one that I knew (albeit years ago) that it feels like wishful thinking.
There is some humor in "Bottle Rocket" that made me chuckle. I enjoyed, for example, the repetitive covers and plots of imaginary lesbian novels, until the author just _had_ to include her own first novel. She basically outlines its plot as being as derivative as everyone else, but her heroine pauses to reflect on the less-common (more striking) cover design. This does nothing to move the story forward and should have been cut.
This story (again, WTF with the _chapters_ -- short stories don't have chapters!) is a very predictable story about opposites attracting. A few of the subsidiary characters are amusing, but unsympathetically, drawn. At least this wasn't as hard to read as the first story.
"Falling from Grace" was another terribly predictable romantic story with a slight urge toward the literary at the very end. Terribly unlikely, improbable plot. Only one of the characters was really described. It was okay, but rather slight.
The last story in this collection was another romantic fantasy. This time it was a struggling ABD being courted by the bombshell scion of family that owns the company where she works. Suspense about zero. Plotting utterly predictable. The love interest in the story, BTW, has an alcoholic father, an alcoholic soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend, and has her eye on her alcoholic co-worker. I hope she's got Al-Anon on speed dial, as Ms. McMan might say. Connection to Poe seemed extremely labored.
McMan has talent, but I was unable to connect with any of the stories in this collection.
There are four stories in this collection, I bought it because of the follow on from Jericho and was surprised that it was my least favourite story. I think it's because it suffered from the same thing as Jericho, an over abundance of italics that severely detracts from its readability. I assume this has been pointed out to the author since, as the other stories don't have this problem. Now if she'd only go back and edit the Valentine story and Jericho to remove them.
Bottle Rocket was fun, and I very much enjoyed the verbal sparring between the two main characters, but the ending was over the top silly and that detracted from the overall read.
Fall From Grace is an intriguing premise, I enjoyed both the characters and the set-up and hope Ann has plans to re-visit Grace and Abbie again.
Nevermore was my favourite though, really enjoyed both Diz and Clarissa and again it was a great set-up. I haven't read the sequel yet but am looking forward to spending time with the characters again.
Delightful short stories by this excellent author. I did have to keep googling all the references to popular American culture, me being a Brit but that shouldn't put anyone off. Ann is talented; her stories flow, with likeable characters and witty, believable dialog. I'm hoping that some of the stories here might be the launch for weightier tomes. I look forward to her next book with pleasurable anticipation.