Island Rule

by Katie M. Flynn

From the author of The Companions, a genre-bending collection of interconnected short stories in the tradition of Jennifer Egan and Karen Russell

An angry mother turns into a literal monster. A company in San Francisco can scrub your entire reputation and create a new one…for a price. A failed actor on a reality show turns into an unlikely world savior. And much more. Through twelve interconnected stories, Katie Flynn masterfully blends people, places, and even realities.

Genres: Short Stories, Horror, Fiction, Dystopia, Science Fiction, Short Story Collection

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2024

About the author

Katie M. Flynn is a writer, editor, and educator based in San Francisco. Her writing has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Tin House, and Tor.com, among other publications. She’s been awarded Colorado Review’s Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction and the Steinbeck Fellowship in Creative Writing. Her first novel, The Companions, came out in March 2020, and opens during a prolonged quarantine where the living can’t go out, but the dead can come in as companions. Her interlinked collection of short stories, Island Rule, is forthcoming (March 5, 2024) from Scout Press and available for pre-order here: http://tinyurl.com/yc5frbs7.

Reviews

[Sunny Lu · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

These stories were tangled together by threads I loved. Felt grounded in reality with just a touch of magic in some stories

[Melany · Rating 1 out of 5]

I typically love slightly interconnected short stories. However, this one severely fell flat for me. Some of the stories could've been quite intriguing, but it may be the writing style and the fact that the characters had no depth. I felt no connection or real knowledge of them, it was really dry and short ended on the characters' aspect. It took me way too long to read this, even though it's under 300 pages. It felt like I had to force myself to get through it eventually to finish it. While this was an absolute no from me, I still suggest you give it a go. As everyone has different taste and you may enjoy it!

I won this from a Goodreads giveaway. All of the statements above are my true opinions after fully reading this short stories book.

[Scott Rhee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ll preface this review by saying that I received Katie M. Flynn’s book “Island Rule” as a giveaway from Goodreads and Scout Press. Thanks to both for the free copy.

Let’s talk about world-building. A good storyteller can create an entire world (or worlds) that immerses the reader and helps suspend disbelief. But many readers who praise world-building in writers often overlook or dismiss short story writers. Certainly novelists have a greater use of space and time to build their narrative universes, but a good short story writer can create an entire universe in a 20-page story. Some can do it in a perfectly-worded paragraph. Some just need a sentence. Short story writers often get short shrift because there is a mistaken belief that one can only build worlds within lengthy novels. So not true.

And let’s not get into the mistaken belief that only genre writing allows for world-building. The world being built doesn’t have to be a science-fictional or fantasy setting. It could be Paris, France of the 1930s or Cleveland, Ohio of the 1970s or San Francisco, California present-day. It doesn’t even need to be a place or time. It could be a world within a character’s head. We all contain worlds within us.

Katie M. Flynn’s short story collection “Island Rule” is a wonderful collection of (subtly) inter-connected stories that manages to tell a fascinating narrative about a world that is eerily reminiscent of our own. Millenials struggle with a messed-up world inherited by their parents. People of all ages struggle to connect in a world of social media. Scientists struggle with the effects of global warming. Poor people struggle with the effects of gentrification and a widening wealth gap. Somewhere in there is a mother that transforms into a monster. The world watches in horror as the International Space Station explodes. A Norwegian explorer’s teeth travels around the world and through time. Cancerous bunny rabbits. Bone Mounds.

Flynn’s stories blend elements of science fiction, horror, romance, and humor into stories that are wonderfully real. Her writing brings to mind great short story writers like Lorrie Moore, George Saunders, Paul Tremblay, Stephen King, Alice Munro, Kurt Vonnegut: all of whom straddle a fine line between genre and literary fiction. It’s within that fine line that fascinating worlds reside.

[Kristine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a book I decided to try that would usually be out of my comfort zone. I do enjoy short stories, although some of these were strange. Sometimes, that works and sparks a new interest and other times the collections fall short.

So, it took me a long time to finish this book. It was a mixture of short stories that were loosely connected. I would characterize this as literary fiction and science fiction. Some of the stories I enjoyed, but still each I felt a disconnection from the characters. I think that was the purpose, but it made it difficult for to become engaged with the book.

I think the book is well written and appreciate the writing, but it just was too disjointed for me. I was often confused about the time line and what was occurring.

The characters are all quirky and strange, which usually I can take in, but think I would recommend this more for someone looking for a very different type group of stories and into a non-linear, fantasy, dystopian, and science fiction narrative.

Thank you NetGalley, Katie M. Flynn, and Gallery Books for a copy of this book. I leave reviews for all books I read.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok- so maybe a 3.5, loed that all the stories looped together, but some where not that good , others outstnding. Also some of the readers were super "breathy" very annoying.

[Bethany Mock (bethanyburiedinbooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you @simon.audio #partner for the free ALC!

Short synopsis:

This book is a mix of short stories that are loosely tied together by a string. This starts out with a mother who is upset with her current life situation. Things don’t go well with her child, school principal call, fingers are pointed and she’s left feeling very angry. Then one day, poof she disappears and has turned into a monster. What continues is a series of stories where the people and places are connected to each other crossing different genres and feels very reminiscent of tackling ideas of current world problems. I’d say this is more of a sci-fi, literary fiction and horror book mixed together.

Thoughts: This is my first time reading a book with short stories and wasn’t sure what to expect. It ended up being a difficult one for me as I did feel I had a hard time keeping track of the timeline, characters and felt lost a lot of the book. 🫣 I think this book started out very strong and I was invested in the beginning however as the story continued, I struggled to maintain an understanding of what was happening or when the story line would change. I think I was looking for more closure to each story however it seems that in short story telling one doesn’t receive that happy ending. 🤣 I haven’t ever read a short story book so this could 💯 be just something I’m not used to. If you enjoy short stories I would say give this one a try! The writing was well done and the stories were very unique!

[Ashley Wunder]

Island Rule is a fun ride and a terrifying glimpse into what happens when we hurl ourselves straight into environmental devastation. Katie M. Flynn weaves her characters across space and time. They move through the world unaware of how they change the trajectory of others’ lives. I enjoyed this style of storytelling. I didn’t get closure from any of the characters (as is the nature of short stories, of course) but their stories felt more complete throughout the book because of how thoroughly enmeshed they are.

The two threads I enjoyed most were maternal rage and memory. Maternal rage is wildly common but rarely spoken of—and, it’s typically hidden. One of the characters is so consumed by rage and regret that she becomes the kind of monster that gets dateline specials. The monster marks every story in the collection in both insignificant and life altering ways. It is the most compelling thread in the book! I also enjoyed the idea of memory as stories we tell ourselves. What we don’t remember, we create and what we do remember is probably not all that real.

This is an engrossing collection of short stories and superb writing. I loved that these stories are weird but I almost wish they were even more strange. Odd curiosities and surreal imaginings are definitely the author’s area of expertise.

Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for the ARC to review.

[AndiReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are 12 amazing, breath-taking, unique interconnected stories in this collection. Only 12, yet I felt like I was fully immersed in a world created by Katie M. Flynn. I love interconnected stories - a book that makes you work a bit, keep track and remember each story and this book went above and beyond. Components turn up from the start of the collection right when you have moved on to a whole new decade, a whole new drama. Each story introduced characters that are just getting by and we meet them when they need to make a decision. Welcome to the world of Island Rule. There is nothing Katie M. Flynn cannot do and I am jealous of anyone's first time reading this book #IslandRule #Katiemflynn #Gallerybooks

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Brie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads First Reads contest.

I loved how the short stories within it connected with characters and jumped around in time. It was written in an engaging style and I really liked it.

[Lola · Rating 4 out of 5]

📚 Ketika membaca buku ini, aku merasa seperti memasuki dunia yg aneh, tetapi menarik. Buku ini terdiri dari 12 cerita yg saling terkait, yg mengisahkan tentang berbagai karakter yg hidup mereka berubah secara drastis.

🕵️‍♀️ Salah satu hal yg paling aku nikmati dari novel ini adalah bagaimana Flynn mampu menggabungkan dunia nyata dgn elemen fiksi ilmiah & fantasi ❤️

Misalnya, cerita tentang perusahaan di San Francisco. Perusahaan ini bisa menghapus reputasi seseorang yg benar² menarik perhatian ku ❤️ Dalam cerita ini, aku melihat bagaimana seseorang terobsesi dgn citra mereka di media sosial, lalu membawanya ke tingkat yg lebih tinggi dgn minta bantuan ke perusahaan ini, di mana mereka bisa menghapus masa lalu seseorang 😂 Situasi ini menunjukkan bagaimana seseorang sering kali fokus pada penampilan luar & citra yg dia ciptakan 🙃

Selain itu, deskripsi dalam novel ini sgt kuat 🔥 Penulis menggambarkan setiap karakter & latar belakang mereka dgn detail yg membuat mereka terasa hidup 🔥 Sebagai contoh, dalam cerita tentang ibu yg berubah menjadi monster. Di sepanjang cerita ini, aku ikut tegang & marah² seakan-akan itu aku sendiri 🙈 Kemampuan penulis untuk membuat aku terhubung dgn karakter-karakternya adalah salah satu kekuatan terbesar dari novel iniv🔥

Namun, aku jg merasa ada beberapa kekurangan dalam novel ini, seperti beberapa cerita ada alurnya yg terasa terlalu cepat 😔 Misalnya, cerita tentang aktor gagal yg tiba² menjadi penyelamat dunia. Aku merasa bahwa perubahan dari kegagalan menjadi pahlawan ini terlalu mendadak & kurang diberi ruang untuk berkembang secara alami ❌ Ini membuat klimaks ceritanya terasa kurang kuat & kurang memengaruhi secara emosional ❌

💌 Meskipun ada beberapa kekurangan, novel ini tetap membawa pesan yg mendalam tentang identitas & realitas 👍 Penulis mengajak kita untuk mempertimbangkan bagaimana keputusan² kecil dalam hidup bisa membawa perubahan besar, serta bagaimana dunia di sekitar kita dapat membentuk siapa kita sebenarnya 🙂 Novel ini jg menyadarkan aku tentang betapa rapuhnya batas antara kenyataan & ilusi, dan pentingnya untuk memahami diri sendiri 🙂

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book was wonderful, maybe one of the best I have read in a long time. The connections made between stories create this half-open look of the almost future of the United States. I enjoy and hate the lack of conclusion that comes with ending the book. Some stories get developed in other stories, but you know that's not the end of them. I think the very end with Agatha and Geils is a perfect encapsulation of society vs nature. Agatha works as a polisher, on the worst team of polishers, and her entire job revolves around fitting people into society, she likes her work, but it doesn't fully fulfill her. Giels has tried many times to be part of society when he was a moody teen he broke out of his sadness when he went to nature. Then he spent time at the campus and probably felt the happiest he ever had, he tried to be an urban planner and failed, then became a polisher alongside Agatha, which made him utterly depressed. To Agatha, she can't stand the smell of his nature and to Geils, the society she represents makes him sad. They must separate, by with each of them they keep a part of Goldenrod's teeth, a unifying aspect that in the future, I could see them coming back together.

[ChapterNook · Rating 1 out of 5]

Island Rule by Katie M. Flynn is a mashup of stories with seemingly no sort of time-line, jumping back and forth between time and people. Each story's characters somehow intersect with another story and its characters, even if only for a brief moment.
I had zero expectations going into this one as I'm not familiar with the author or with the authors it's compared to. With that said I don't seem to understand this one. It could neither obtain nor hold my interest but I made it to page 120 before deciding I no longer wished to spend time on it. A few of the stories were interesting on their own however not enough to keep me engaged. I kept wondering when each chapter would end and found myself wishing the book would just be over.
I am going to check out other work from this author and familiarize myself with Jennifer Egan and Karen Russell, then perhaps come back and see if I don't have a different outlook on Island Rule. For now, I wouldn't recommend this one.
An enormous Thank You to Katie M Flynn, Gallery/Scout Press, and Goodreads for allowing me the opportunity to read this title in exchange for my honest review.

[Melissa Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twelve interconnected stories that reveal the secrets of family and neighbors. From the woman who turns into a literal monster, to random piles of bones found all over town, to a company that can create a new reputation for you. These are just a few of the stories in this wonderfully layered novel.

I enjoyed each character and their unique perspectives. And even though it was difficult at times to keep track of each character's connection, I feel as if each story flowed into the other beautifully; it gave the reader a chance to feel a part of each short story.

This novel felt longer than it was but in a good way. Overall, the characters were well-rounded and smartly written. While the premise was slightly disturbing, it had a bit of a comical undertone that would peak out every so often.

Enjoyable novel. I would reread this one to fully connect with each character and enjoy the unique stories all over again.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

[Paul Wilner]

https://www.nobhillgazette.com/arts_a...

Continuing in the hardboiled tradition, fellow San Franciscan Katie M. Flynn’s new story collection, Island Rule, offers interconnected portraits of everyone from an angry mother and former punk rocker who turns into a monster (literally) after a dispute with some privileged private school girls in her neighborhood, to the emotional impact a couple experiences after their surrogate decides to keep the baby they had hoped to adopt. The title story channels a more directly political Joan Didion as her protagonist gets lost on the San Diego freeway and then caught in a traffic jam after a bomb is discovered near the border wall. Flynn has been compared to the likes of Jennifer Egan and Karen Russell, but her voice is unmistakably original.

[Greg · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. Every short story collection is going to have the possibility to go from a great story into a shitty one. The first story just did absolutely nothing for me. It is poorly written and takes a hard, nonsensical turn that not only makes no sense, but also is really stupid. I don't even know what the goal of it was. It's going one direction and then makes a sharp right turn into a wall and ends abruptly. The next story is pure wheel spinning and goes nowhere. The third one starts off with the author's politics shoehorned in for no reason. At this point I tapped out. Excruciating. I very rarely quit a book (I think this makes number three in my 34 years), but with nothing here ever clicked and when she starts with the "male gaze" bullshit and talking about how the Obama administration was going to heal us, it was very clear that this one was never going to get better. Clunky writing, poorly built characters, and storied that just don't go anywhere.

[Julianna Pakstis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riveting and thoughtful. It took a couple stories to orient me to the interconnectedness of the worlds and characters but once I figured that out I had a whole new appreciation for the book. The stories read well as standalone a but take on a whole new life as a collective.

I was impressed and refreshed by the author’s not shying away from women’s issues, social issues, and, at times, grotesqueness.

The prose and content was so well balanced between the mundane and the rarefied, philosophical, abstract.

The book felt new and different. I loved reading it this first time and look forward to re-reading it again and again.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me an advanced copy to inform my feedback!

[Cora · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this but I’m learning that this kind of book is one of my favorites. Nearly short stories but that link in subtle though important ways- the comparisons to Jennifer Egan are spot on, and Goon Squad is one of my all time favorite books so I guess this makes sense. But sometimes similarity can obviously be too derivative, and I didn’t find that was the case here. I liked the connections so much that when I finished I went back and sped read it again to make a diagram of the places and people. It’s definitely odd, and nontraditional, but I just thoroughly enjoyed my reading experience.

[Severina · Rating 1 out of 5]

This series of 12 vaguely interconnected stories are a big miss. The connections are very often clunky and awkward. The timeframes are sometimes difficult to nail down, especially as the author tends to mark them by who was the American president at the time. And quite frankly, they’re boring.

There’s this link of supernatural-esque weirdness throughout many of the stories, but it’s just too vague. If you’re going to go that route, embrace it. And there is a sameness to the main character in every story – they all have a similar sounding cadence to their internal dialogue that makes them mesh together. All in all, what a mess.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

**I won this book via a Goodreads giveaway**

I’ve read a lot of collections of stories before, but none where all of the characters are interconnected like this. I thought it was a very interesting concept and I enjoyed it. I will admit some of the characters were forgotten shortly after I’d read their story and it took me a minute (and sometimes some backtracking) to remember that character’s story and see how they related to the next one. But overall it was a great read with a lot of unique and interesting stories.

[Linty · Rating 4 out of 5]

- twelve interconnected short stories centered around a world that is like ours with some gently surrealist twists
- some are set in the past, some in the present day, and some in the not-too-distant future
- general themes throughout of motherhood/expectations of women and clinging to normalcy in the face of climate change/new black mirror-esque technology
- i really liked these! they were just the right amount of surreal, they were focused, they were thought-provoking
- it was fun to see characters pop up in different stories
- there wasn't really any standout worst story as there often can be in collections like this but i think "The Single Friend" was maybe not as cohesive with the rest
- i think if there's any fault it's that i was hoping for a tighter connection between the stories to flesh out the world a bit more, there were a few times where i reached the end of a story only to think "oh, that was it?"
- i was also hoping for a final concluding story that wrapped everything up and while we didn't quite get that, i think the last story was the perfect bow on the book as a whole.

**review of an arc i received via goodreads giveaways**

[Kayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just was not overly enthused by any of the stories in this book. It was hard to really care about this world that Flynn was building, as the short stories are interconnected. Yet often this connection was hard to grasp. It was also just generally frustrating that I often had no idea when or where the stories were taking place. Nothing was overtly "bad," to me it is just forgettable.

Thank you to Gallery/Scout Press for handing out these galley copies at NYCC 2023.

[Meliza · Rating 1 out of 5]

i think more anthologies should try to connect their stories loosely through all the characters existing in the same world and i really enjoyed that this collection did that
unfortunately the story themselves were either really boring to me or followed characters that i just found annoying. a lot of the characters have the same internal voice and the writings style itself was just not my favorite

[Ethel Rohan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I lean toward realism and traditional storytelling, solid footing if you will in conjured worlds, but I'm always open to surprise, the off-kilter, and the weirdly wonderful. Katie M. Flynn's ISLAND RULE delivered just that. Maybe it's my post-pandemic brain, now etched with the belief that ANYTHING is possible, which rendered me especially amenable to the malleability of our environments and the human experience as depicted in these quirky and rich interconnected stories.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've really gotten into dystopian-type fiction lately, and this collection of interconnected short stories did not disappoint! I found myself eagerly diving into the next story trying to determine how it was related to the previous ones. Each story was very well-written and the recurrent themes and characters were extremely well done (my favorite being the devastating effects of environmental destruction). I'd love to read another book by Katie Flynn. Thank you GoodReads for my free copy!

[Scott Cox]

This short story cycle is well executed and I truly appreciated Flynn's use of language, but the Simon Schuster Audiobook is atrocious. With the exception of a few tracks, this poorly produced audiobook contains some truly distracting acting (nicest I can describe at this time) and an unforgivable story in which the actor mispronounces EVERY SINGLE street and neighborhood in San Francsico. Why they didn't hire local actors is beyond me. Read the book, DO NOT buy the audiobook.

[sam sully · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cool and interconnected book with varying weird stories and good prose. It wasn’t anything spectacular nor was there true build up, but it was nice to read since it really put the scope of our personal connections with others to light. Albeit in a weird semi-freaky way. To be frank thought, while I enjoyed each section of the story, the ending was somewhat flat. But that’s my only complaint, it went pretty full circle all in all.

[Alex Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a thought-provoking collection of interconnected short stories that blends realism with a subtle absurdism. In many ways it reminded me of Station Eleven in that it wove together a fragmented narrative—but unlike Station Eleven, these stories weren’t necessarily cohesive. I found myself flipping back often to confirm whether or not the background character was mentioned in a previous story. Definitely recommend.

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5
A 3.45 average across the 12 stories, my favorite being the last one (Us, being the Org, being us). I liked how they were connected sometimes, but in other ways it felt too much like a gimmick. I mostly liked the stories but a few of them fell just too flat for me. It’s a collection I liked in theory more than in practice.

[Katie McCracken · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for allowing me to review this book.
I really really wanted to love it but I had a hard time getting invested in any of these stories. They are all very very different and I read some of the titles and thought “this is going to be so good” only to be slightly disappointed.
If you are a fan of short stories and odd plots, this is the one for you!