Lies I Never Told - A Short Collection of Short Stories

by Martin Crosbie

"It’s what we do. We make our own beds. We become thirty and then forty and we divorce and re-marry and visit our children on weekends, and work at jobs we never dreamt of doing, and have too many relationships with people we don’t like, and on the outside we look like any other forty year old hero. We’re not though, because it never goes away. No matter how much we try to hide it, inside we’re still seventeen, sitting at the river, looking for the girl with the brown eyes."
In this collection of short stories, Martin Crosbie, the bestselling author of “My Temporary Life”, presents us with a glimpse into the rear-view mirror of life. Crosbie’s writing is quiet, so quiet that when the crash comes you suddenly realize you’ve been gripping onto the edge of your chair, living the story right along with the main character. In this intensely personal collection, he writes about relationships, sex, children, infidelities, guilt, and sometimes, the absence of guilt.
Lies I Never Told includes four new, original stories, one previously published short story, and the first chapters of his Amazon bestselling novel “My Temporary Life” and the follow-up “My Name Is Hardly”.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

93 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 13, 2013

About the author

In a press release, Amazon called Martin Crosbie’s debut novel My Temporary Life one of their success stories. His self-publishing journey has been chronicled in Publisher's Weekly, Forbes, and Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper. Martin’s recent release The Dead List (A John Drake Mystery) was awarded a publishing contract by Kindle Press.

He’s also the author of My Name Is Hardly - Book Two of the My Temporary Life Trilogy, Lies I Never Told - A Collection of Short Stories, How I Sold 30,000 eBooks on Amazon's Kindle - An Easy-To-Follow Self-Publishing Guidebook, 2016 Edition, and Believing Again: A Tale Of Two Christmases.

Martin was born in the Highlands of Scotland and currently makes his home just outside Vancouver, on the west coast of Canada.

Reviews

[Brenda Perlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book as a whole. The stories were filled with raw emotion and a special vulnerability that felt honest. I can't wait for Mr. Crosbie's next book.

Blind men don't Cry

This is a captivating story that could touch the inner depth of ones soul. Beautifully written. I held onto each word as if it were a gift. All the little treasures come together making this a story one that I wished had not ended.

"She's busy now, my daughter. She has friends, friends I don't know. She has less time for me. I ask, plead, for phone calls, but they don't come. I pray that her complexion will be little-girl-clear and that her eyes will sparkle and her clothes will be clean and unslept in. I pray that I will recognize her. I pray she doesn't look the way she's accused of acting by her mother."

Any Night but Friday

A sad little story about family. It wasn't written in a dismal manner but it felt dark just the same. Short and not so sweet.

Wendy isn't Coming Home

A touching little story about a break up. Not your conventional break-up story but one with heart and real human emotion.

"He's her cat, not mine. When she moved in twenty-seven months ago, it was a package deal. Spock, the cat, was her family, and if I wanted her to move in, he was coming too. So I reluctantly gave in, and began living with a girl I couldn't stop thinking about, and Spock, the tuxedo cat."

My Temporary Life

This is a story about thirteen year old boys where there all bullies and life isn't always fair. Life can be downright cruel. This segment sends chills down my spine. Because it feels all too real.

"My mother left my father and returned to Canada four years ago. That's where she's from. She met my father while on holiday in Scotland, then shortly afterwards, I came along. Then when she tired of Scotland, or my Dad, or me, I'm not sure which, she went home."

My Name is Hardly

This is a story about army loft-sitters. Hardly is a soldier. Being a loft-sitter there are plenty of rules and fear is a big part of the game.

The Absence of Guilt

This is a sweet story going back to a time of innocence. Being young and experiencing first loved and heartbreaks. Then it takes to to a not so innocent time. It takes you to the present.

This brilliant piece touched me and by the end the tears that were filling my eyes started dripping down like warm rain. An emotional story that moved me.

"We'd park at the river, thinking we were characters in a Springsteen song, and she'd let me touch her in places I hadn't seen before. There were piles of gravel, small mountains really, spread along the edge of the water and we'd park in between them. It was our private would. We'd talk about what we were going to do when we got out of our little town, when high school was over, and we'd talk about being seventeen and stuck, and we'd talk about being together. It was always me and her. There was never any other option."

Afternoons with Angela

This such a beautiful story filled with real emotion. A perfect story to end a perfect collection of short stories.

"I'll bet the sun could touch her eyes and make you think of summer,
I'll bet the moon could burn her thighs and make you say you love her.
I'll bet she doesn't know it but I'll bet you if I tried,
I could probably convince her almost angels always cry."

[Ronald Keeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lies I Never Told by Martin Crosbie is a collection of five short stories and five samples from longer novels. The novels begin with My Temporary Life Book One. The last short story, Afternoons with Angela, appears at the end of this collection, I moved it for this review. If you open the sidebar of Kindle to look at the table of contents, the information displayed is confusing as to the order of presentation and content. But that doesn't take away from the excellence of the writing. This, and all of the novels Crosbie refers to can be read on Kindle Unlimited for "free." This collection displayed writing so impressive I bought it after I read it so that I can keep it in my collection of writing that will impress my students. There is a great diversity of perspectives revealed in this collection. Geographically, the writing perspectives cover England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, and the US. There is writing from the perspectives of youth and military service. There is an almost paranormal perspective where the narrator is a woman. This is a collection with something for all readers. Brief summaries follow.

The Absence of Guilt

This is a story about regrets for things missed while young. We may be familiar with attempts to recapture youth, to go back and have a "do-over." William felt that way. He made the attempt. However, there are things that don't change. He would always be William.

Blind Men Don’t Cry

Here is a story for parents. There are children we knew who have grown into adults we don't know. Since they are our grown equals now; leading lives as busy, diverse, and filled as our own, we literally don't have time to really know each other in our new, changed relationships. So we return to a default view. Our children retain their identity as our children, the twenty-year-old child that was eleven years old only ten minutes ago.

Any Night but Friday

Uncle always came on Friday night to get his weekend money from the boy's mother. The work week was a standard five-day week that demanded a conscious presence to get the job done. The weekend was for drinking. This routine was fine for Uncle until payday was changed to Monday. How could a man keep his pay intact for five days so the important weekend work could be done? He couldn't. Mom, his sister, would have to fill the temporary financial hole with just a few small contributions, ones made every week. Mom understood. After all, it was her brother. But Dad never got it.

Wendy isn’t Coming Home

Wendy left but there was still Spock, the cat. Wendy had arrived with Spock but left without him. The Man was at a loss to define his new solitary existence. One way to define it was what was left, by what Wendy had not taken. Why was the picture frame gone but not the picture? The Man is at a loss. It is up to Spock to begin a slow step-by-step series of moves to define the new relationship.

Afternoons with Angela

This is different from all other short stories here in that there is a sexual component. It is good, not unnecessarily graphic but it is necessary to the story. Just a warning for those sensitive to that sort of thing. This is a very sad, depressing story; so much so that I won't go into further details here except to say that it is very well written. It invites the reader to use imagination to complete details.

My Temporary Life Book One

This is a sampler and an introduction to a place where the reader can buy the full novel, My Temporary Life. Based on this beginning, an account of the difficulties thirteen-year-old boys have tried to cope with school life, I will read the rest of Book One. The boys in this account have more problems than most. Gerald and Malcolm are best friends in class 2B, a class of misfits. Class 2A has the regular kids. Everyone in class 2B has some kind of special problem. Malcolm's parents are divorced and he shuttles between them to live for temporary periods of time based on his school schedule. Gerald drinks alcoholic mixtures of his own making. Others in class 2B have relatives in prison or criminal relatives yet to be caught. Classes 2A and 2B have always been kept apart unless a teacher is absent. When the two classes are forced together problems explode as an insecure teacher fights for student acceptance.

My Temporary Life Book Two

This is a sample short story from the author's longer novel My Name is Hardly. In this sample, we meet Hardly, the assigned nickname of Gerald from Book One. It is much later, Gerald (Hardly) has already served twenty years in the Army. He is on "attic duty" in a cramped and by now smelly location with Malcolm. The two are on protection duty for the Gallagher family living in the lower part of the house. The Gallaghers are providing information to Hardly's superiors about the Provos. It seems the IRA may have figured out the true loyalties of the Gallaghers. But do they know of the existence of Malcolm and Hardly?

My Temporary Life Book Three

In this prequel short story to All Good Men Must Fall, the reader again meets Malcolm, who is away on a mission to Hardly's house to make sure Hardly is coping with Flora's desertion without an excessive reliance on alcohol. Mom and fifteen-year-old daughter Emily are alone in the house. Except for the ghost. Ghosts aren't real for Emily but, as we see here, for Mom it is a different story.

Believing Again: A Tale Of Two Christmases

Here is a prequel to the novel with the same name (above). Brother and sister Stephen and Allyson experienced tragedy when their parents were killed shortly after their high school graduation. Allyson got married, had children, and built a family life that Stephen envied. Stephen joined the Army and on one of his returns to Seattle for a tour of duty as a training officer, met Myra, a co-worker with Allyson at a mall supermarket. After a six-month relationship, Stephen was scheduled to return to Afghanistan. Myra and Stephen were married days before his departure for a one-year tour. But there was something about Myra. Allyson had told Stephen to be careful but had only hinted at something in Myra's background. What would happen when Stephen returned?

The Dead List

Drake is a cop barely above rookie status. He only has four months job seniority on Van Dyke but he is fifteen years older. But that four months made him the first officer on the scene and in charge of an investigation into what or who killed Michael Robinson. His body had been found on the street just blocks from the police station. It looked like he might have fallen and split his head open in an accident. The strong smell of alcohol supported that. But a feeling of "something not right" caused Drake to stop the paramedics as they prepared to transport the body. Drake called in resources for a wider investigation as paramedic Rempel complained about the time they would have to wait in the steadily increasing downpour of rain for resource arrival. But almost rookie police officer Drake was in charge as he attempted to make up for the weaknesses of all others who responded to the crime scene.

[Janice Spina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short stories and some snippets of longer novels that take a hard look at life. Each story involved the complications and problems that the main characters had to endure and how they solved them. Some stories I found interesting while others didn't hold my interest as much. But that is what happens with short story collections.

The snippets of the longer novels were not enough to get into and left me with wanting more. I guess you could say that is a good sign of a talented writer. The writing style was a slow and easy tempo that relaxed this reader. It was a quick and intriguing read.

[Kandi Lopez · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a collection of short stories. Most of the books were very interesting.but, there were some that did not hold my attention.

[Kelli Santistevan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story collection.

[Nicola Bishop · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was an interesting collection. Every story different. A pleasant read.

[Rick Farlee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, I wasn’t really expecting much from these short stories… and with good reason because they seemed more like high school/middle school material.

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short Stories from Martin Crosbie

Where Martin Crosbie found his voice is a mystery. His ability to create stories (here very brief ones) that explore the psyche of his chosen stand-in trope in such a way that within a few sentences you are so aware of the character's life and feelings that he seems to be sitting beside you, in conversation with only you. In `Blind Men Don't Cry' we travel the street with a man in his car on his way to meet his now twenty something daughter from an estranged marriage and through fleeting moments of experiences we know how fearful he is of what the world may be dong to his daughter while at the same time realizing that his repartee with her may have been based on lies. But contact finally made breaks a barrier he dares not disguise.

In `Any Night But Friday' we learn about an eight year old's seemingly reprobate uncle (in this family's eye) who was warmth and special to the boy. Leo, the uncle, apparently drank heavily, transforming his entire paycheck to swallowed booze until his job changed and he was without his Friday paycheck to drink away. The mother (Leo is her brother) would slip him money, the father fell and broke his leg not once but twice - second time being a slip in Leo's urine. Distance occurs until a Christmas when Leo comes with a gift for our eight year old and there is a transformation that puts a new light on this sad little story of a boy's view on the only kind person he knows.

The stories here all contain situations that make us look more deeply into our lives, our motivations, our needs. Included in this collection (the above mention short stories are joined with `Wendy Isn't Coming Home', `The Absence of Guilt' and `Afternoons with Angela') are the first chapters from two of Crosbie's splendid books - MY TEMPORARY LIFE and MY NAME IS HARDLY - and for those reading Crosbie in these abbreviated moments, the just imagine feeling such as these expanded and go read his full length books. He is a very very fine writer.

Grady Harp

[Pam Whitman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lies I Never Told - A Collection of Short Stories gives a taste of the range of subjects Martin Crosbie writes about. From the thoughts and feelings of contemporary societal situations to tales of Scottish lads, I discovered a true storyteller in this author who is new to me.

What a great idea to include the first chapter of a couple of his books as if they were short stories…I cannot wait to read the full books now! This wouldn't work with just any novel or with any author. The first chapter doesn't always catch you the way that this author's first chapters do.

So, I encourage you to read this short and sweet sampling of Martin Crosbie's potential, then dive right into his novels as I plan to do!

[ReadAlongWithSue ★⋆. ࿐࿔catching up · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given this book by the author for an honest review.

I'm not much into short stories and didn't really take heed that this book held several. However, the insert appealed to me and the write up so I sat myself out in the garden to start reading, knowing that I would get interrupted there as my husband was gardening and he always asks me "what do I think". Hence the short story book came in handy.

I really loved each story. Although they were quite short they were well thought out. I could actually sit and enjoy the read, some more in depth stories and some more light hearted. I can honestly say I enjoyed all the stories and all the characters.

[Stan Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

So-so

The first two stories reminded me of New Yorker stories. I guess that means they're good. But they didn't really grab me, just like a lot of New Yorker stories don't.

Then there was the third story, "My Temporary Life". The subhead "Chapter One" made me think it would be a long story. I felt used when I got to the end and found it was just a teaser for another e-book by the same author. The fourth story was another teaser for another e-book. At that point I stopped reading.

[Michael Twist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Martin Crosbie entertains us with a mix of quality writing and familiar scenarios that remind us of the psychological aches and pains associated with the human condition. Whether faced with the aftermath of a broken relationship, frayed parenting skills, or a romantic encounter that haunts our memories, Crosbie masterfully assures us all that he too has encountered woes that make our lives both rich and real.

[Big Book Theory · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of short stories were truly amazing. I loved each one of them, but my favorites were Afternoons with Angela (cause I loved that she was almost an angel with just one letter off) and also The Absence of Guilt which caused my eyes to mist over. Each and every story was beautifully written.

[Midge Bork · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories and the first chapter from both My Temporary Life and My Name is Hardly. Crosbie chooses he words in a way that unzipped larger emotions in your brain than you'd think possible from the length of the pieces. If you don't want to commit to a book this collection is a nice sampling of his work. Yo should try it.

[Tellulah Darling · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's not often that I gravitate towards short story collections, but in this case, I'm really glad I did. Crosbie drew me in to his characters, from dealing with depression to the heartbreak of parenthood, every tale is beautifully told.

[Justine M Dunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this collection recently on a flight and found it to be the perfect book for a journey. Easy reads that absorb you from the beginning - I particularly liked 'Wendy Isn't Coming Home'. I shall definitely look out for other works by this author.

[Erich · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic collection of short stories that makes you crave for more.

Author Martin Crosbie is a remarkable storyteller. "Lies I've never told" is one of those rare books you can't put down until finished reading.

[Mary Παπαδοπούλου · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was fascinated by this collection. Each story triggers very intense, very profound emotions. Highly recommend!

[Dao · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but so very well developed stories that are so gripping and real. I couldn't believe how well he writes. I am so glad I discovered this author.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great short stories

[Annemarie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This collection of short stories just wasn't for me. There was almost no conversation in any of the stories. A lot of the short stories were the first chapters of full length novels, but none of them interested me enough to want to read more.

[Chrissy]

DNF @ 18%