Tattoos: A Short Fiction Anthology

by Alice Osborn (Editor), Gary V. Powell

Hang out at any airport, pool or gym these days and you'll find more people wearing tattoos than not. When did tattoos become mainstream so that by not having ink you're an oddity? Perhaps because of the turbulent economic and political landscape we live in, people want to have some control in their lives-tattoos provide that control. Throughout history tattoos let others know the wearer's totem, family, skill set or class. Not just for sailors or misfits, people of all ages now get tattoos because they want to heal after abuse, they reach a personal milestone or they survive a health scare. Or they just want one.

Like the characters in this story collection who are searching for themselves while committed to the ink, the tattooed can express their individualism, their pain and their memories on their skin.

I've always been fascinated with tattoos but not because I have one. There's something in a tattoo that tells the world to fuck off. I admire that. A tattoo is pure communication in the outlines of barbed wire, dragon or butterfly. Of course a character who sports a tattoo has a story. Who hurt her? What did he lose? Why did she choose that tattoo? What does he want to find? What's her secret?

In this anthology, sometimes the tattoo is central to the plot, and other times merely tangential to these characters. You'll meet men and women haunted by war, by family and by themselves. They want to belong and to believe in something. And they are as different as the designs on their arms, legs and backs.

Enjoy these stories told by 15 talented authors from across the country. See yourself in their characters and in their ink. In some way, we are all misfits according to someone.

260 pages, Paperback

First published November 27, 2012

About the author

Alice Osborn’s past educational and work experience is unusually varied, and it now feeds her work as a poet/book editor and singer/songwriter on acoustic guitar. In the past decade, Alice has taught writing workshops to thousands of aspiring fiction, poetry, and memoir authors of nearly all ages from 9 to 90 both around the corner and across continents. Heroes without Capes is her most recent collection of poetry. Previous collections are After the Steaming Stops and Unfinished Projects. Alice is also the editor of the anthologies Tattoos and Creatures of Habitat, both from Main Street Rag. A North Carolina Writers’ Network, North Carolina Poetry Society, and North Carolina Songwriters Co-op board member and a Pushcart Prize nominee, her work has appeared in the News and Observer, The Broad River Review, The Pedestal Magazine, Soundings Review and in numerous journals and anthologies. Alice is the musician-in-residence for the Western Wake Farmers' Market who plays Celtic fiddle and bluegrass banjo. She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband, two children and four birds. Visit Alice's website at www.aliceosborn.com and check out her music at www.reverbnation.com/aliceosborn.

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this through Goodreads; browsing in a book store, I probably wouldn't pick it up on my own. However, I'm glad I read it. It has very thought-provoking stories of all types and genres, so I wasn't at all reluctant to pick it up when I had time. The various authors were well suited to the short story format. Overall, a very nice break from the book club that is my AP English class!