The Consummation of Dirk

by Jonathan Callahan

Winner of the eighth Starcherone Prize for Innovative Fiction

Callahan’s collection represents an exceptional level of accomplishment for a debut author, mixing styles, humor, and various international identities and locales, as well as highly wrought representations of misery. Callahan has said that the initial working title for the collection was “The Book of Pain,” a title that fails to account for the imagination and wit that also pervades the book.                                                                                            

Callahan’s stories from the collection have appeared or are forthcoming in The Collagist, Kill Author, The Lifted Brow, Pank, Underwater New York, Unsaid, and Washington Square Review. The title piece in the book, a mini-novella featuring Dallas Maverick Dirk Nowitzki that first appeared in The Collagist, achieved brief blogosphere notoriety last autumn, written up at both Deadspin and ESPN.com.

Genres: Short Stories

332 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Jonathan Callahan's first book, The Consummation of Dirk, was selected by judge Zachary Mason as the winner of Starcherone’s 8th Prize for Innovative Fiction. He grew up in Honolulu and currently lives in New York.

Reviews

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review by Michael Christian in Pank

[Anna-Maija Tähkävuori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Antaisin kuudennen tähden - tarkoittaa säkenöivää - suorituksesta. Esikoiskirjalle, joka hipoo täydellisyyttä. Muut tähdet tulevat oivalluksista, rakenteesta, taitavasta osien ja kokonaisuuden asettelusta. Syvyydestä ja laajudesta. Kokemuksellisuudesta.
Tekisin vääryyttä Callahanille, jos erittelisin tai - vielä pahempaa - alkaessani referoimaan hänen luomustaan. Consummation Dirk ei ole tuotavissa eteen valmiiksi pureskeltuna, koska se pitää kohdata ja kokea itsenäisesti, yksityisesti. Tarkoituksena täyttää puhdas tila, tyhjiö tajunnassa.
Olen pitkään odottanut jonkin kirjailijan tekevän tämän saman: työntyvän kaihtamatta vielä astetta syvemmälle, ihmisen sisuuksiin. Oireiluun, pahoinvointiin, itseltään kadoksissa oloon. Consummation Dirkille sopii myös ilmaantua yllättäen tyhjästä tehtäväänsä.

[Anthony Crupi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yipes. This was like inadvertently stumbling upon a Doors tribute band, only instead of being confronted with Jim Morrison's jejune sixth-grade poetry being bellowed through a bullhorn over calliope music, Callahan Rich Littles his way through a score of David Foster Wallace impressions while a three-piece 演歌combo knocks out an eternal 12-bar blues about alcoholism, gastric distress and literary onanism.

[Koz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I considered giving this a one-star review just to see what Callahan might produce next given the inspirational angst that would come from seeing someone rate his first book as not-good-enough. But the truth of it is, it is good enough. Much more than good enough, really: great even. So...five stars it is, after all.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection of short stories covering topics as varied as basketball obsession, a planned school shooting, and depression.