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Unselected
A short and tightly written flash fiction anthology from renowned author John Kipling Lewis. Winding the tales of a dozen characters while expertly executing the crafts of prose and poetry; these unrelated works form an incoherent cohesive whole. Existential, riveting, and always provocative, each chapter leaps at the reader, embedding itself into their mind. This book will force readers to think and invites revisiting.
83 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 31, 2012
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22 people want to read
About the author
John Kipling Lewis
7 books7 followersJohn Kipling Lewis was born in Manhattan, Kansas. He currently resides in Costa Rica. Born in 1968, he graduated from an all girl Catholic High School. He has delivered pizza to over 20 countries’ sovereign territories, on a bicycle, and without a passport. He is a rogue scholar who dabbles in subjects of (in no particular order) philosophy, mathematics, consciousness, design, information architecture, emergent behavior, social engineering, discordian theological theory, representational governance, intellectual services, creativity, futurism, and idiolects. He has three children, Jackson, Cole, and Mackenzie. His wife passed away from EDS April, 2018.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
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February 4, 2012Some of the flash was wonderful, but I had a hard time with the poetry - especially the poems that rhymed. The stories I enjoyed the most were "Mask," "Duck," "the fountain," and "Bee Vomit." Also, I have to say as a broad statement to the indie writing world: FIND A COPY EDITOR. It's important.
UPDATE: The version I read has been updated. John Kipling Lewis hired hired an editor and sent me a much cleaner version of Unselected.
UPDATE: The version I read has been updated. John Kipling Lewis hired hired an editor and sent me a much cleaner version of Unselected.
September 30, 2012
Probably the best thing that I can say about this book is that I can't stop thinking about it. I've read it twice, and the second time was a different experience from the first by dint of having read it once already, and seeing things in earlier stories that would come up in later ones.
The stories and poetry in this book are indeed all loosely connected in some way. The characters share a common world that is not too far off from our own, yet with some crucial differences that are made all the more shocking due to the many similarities. It is the sort of book that leaves you with a sense of uneasy wondering, of what-if.
I like a book that forces me to think, to consider, and to reconsider. I like a book that expects me to make connections and draw conclusions, and Unselected does just that. If you're the kind of reader who likes to figure things out, this is the book for you. If you're the sort of reader that likes everything sorted neatly and explained... get this book and give it a read anyway. You may very well surprise yourself with how much fun it is to finde connections among the various stories herein.
Review too long? Here's the short version: THIS BOOK IS GOOD. BUY IT AND PUT IT IN YOUR BRAINMEATS.
The stories and poetry in this book are indeed all loosely connected in some way. The characters share a common world that is not too far off from our own, yet with some crucial differences that are made all the more shocking due to the many similarities. It is the sort of book that leaves you with a sense of uneasy wondering, of what-if.
I like a book that forces me to think, to consider, and to reconsider. I like a book that expects me to make connections and draw conclusions, and Unselected does just that. If you're the kind of reader who likes to figure things out, this is the book for you. If you're the sort of reader that likes everything sorted neatly and explained... get this book and give it a read anyway. You may very well surprise yourself with how much fun it is to finde connections among the various stories herein.
Review too long? Here's the short version: THIS BOOK IS GOOD. BUY IT AND PUT IT IN YOUR BRAINMEATS.
September 18, 2012
Unselected by John Kipling Lewis hits a particular sweet spot for me: an unpredictable mix of flash fiction and poetry, meandering between the darkest shadows and brightest lights and finding beauty in each in the manner of a photographer. The very first story ("The Diner") sets the tone for the rest of the book as its narrator despairs in appreciation of joy. Reading it reminded me of friends lost to self-inflicted tragedies of one sort or another, some of whom could best be described as troubled by the fundamental realization that they always would remain so.
Unselected doesn't shy away from the tragedies of any life, instead showing the maturity required to recognize such events for their profound power to build nigh-unscalable barriers around our existences and perspectives, but neither does "Unselected miss out on the humor, joy and sweet sentiment of those lives. Narrators tell us of tender affection, of love found and lost and then replaced by inspiration and of moments of silent - almost prayerful - appreciation for the wonders to which we are privy if we have the opportunity to notice them. There are surely few books that use stories of time-tripped academics to break up sessions of love poetry, but there ought to be. Unselected celebrates - or at least annotates - everything that makes life interesting whether or not those things make us feel good or qualify as "nice". It serves as a sort of postmodern Spoon River Anthology in that regard, showing us the priorities and experiences of one life after another as determined by the persons who live them.
Often the characters seem to have been swept up by destiny in some way and just awake enough to have recognized fate's arrival as an opportunity of some kind. These moments rarely manifest as a result of the characters' own efforts but they struggle along anyway, sometimes victorious, sometimes in futile but enthusiastic rejection of their own doom and sometimes welcoming the abyss with open arms. The pervasive sense of unexpected and uncontrollable circumstance across so many of the fiction pieces - a choking certainty the characters are merely and entirely the victims of dice rolled on Olympus - underscores the title of the book. It isn't the stories or poems themselves that are unselected, obviously; rather, almost all the circumstances they describe. It's a book that emphasizes the randomness of life, from falling in love to discovering something new about the nature of reality and even a story of being the last person on earth. Chance isn't cursed or blamed by the characters who tell us their tales, however. These are characters who grapple to reassert some measure of control over their lives, even if only long enough to surrender control in some slightly preferable circumstance.
Ultimately, I found Unselected to be a highly enjoyable and deeply satisfying examination of the human spirit in all its manifestations, including those times when a character's determination is focused on destruction and horror rather than something more conventionally sustaining. Not every story or character was perfectly to my liking but I took that as a mark of the variety of stories and poetic voices included rather than a point of detraction. There were also a handful of moments when an editorial oversight broke the mood abruptly, something to which I am particularly sensitive as a reader despite being far more guilty of it as a writer. These are minor complaints, however. Unselected is a fascinating and compelling collection of bite-sized portraits of lives being played out like innings in a continually delayed game of baseball: a character with an important secret to share here, a character with a death wish there and beyond them a character who's suddenly found a purpose in life. There are a dozen books that have been in my to-read pile for a year or more and I shoved them all aside to keep reading Unselected. The nature of flash fiction is often that one doesn't know the real "end" of the story but I find that deeply addicting. I would read a given story, look at my watch, contemplate returning to work from lunch then go back to my viewer for another line, another bump, just one more shot. Lewis crafts fascinating worlds and gives us interesting characters then uses them to great effect, teasing us forward page by page. Well worth the price of admission and then some.
Unselected doesn't shy away from the tragedies of any life, instead showing the maturity required to recognize such events for their profound power to build nigh-unscalable barriers around our existences and perspectives, but neither does "Unselected miss out on the humor, joy and sweet sentiment of those lives. Narrators tell us of tender affection, of love found and lost and then replaced by inspiration and of moments of silent - almost prayerful - appreciation for the wonders to which we are privy if we have the opportunity to notice them. There are surely few books that use stories of time-tripped academics to break up sessions of love poetry, but there ought to be. Unselected celebrates - or at least annotates - everything that makes life interesting whether or not those things make us feel good or qualify as "nice". It serves as a sort of postmodern Spoon River Anthology in that regard, showing us the priorities and experiences of one life after another as determined by the persons who live them.
Often the characters seem to have been swept up by destiny in some way and just awake enough to have recognized fate's arrival as an opportunity of some kind. These moments rarely manifest as a result of the characters' own efforts but they struggle along anyway, sometimes victorious, sometimes in futile but enthusiastic rejection of their own doom and sometimes welcoming the abyss with open arms. The pervasive sense of unexpected and uncontrollable circumstance across so many of the fiction pieces - a choking certainty the characters are merely and entirely the victims of dice rolled on Olympus - underscores the title of the book. It isn't the stories or poems themselves that are unselected, obviously; rather, almost all the circumstances they describe. It's a book that emphasizes the randomness of life, from falling in love to discovering something new about the nature of reality and even a story of being the last person on earth. Chance isn't cursed or blamed by the characters who tell us their tales, however. These are characters who grapple to reassert some measure of control over their lives, even if only long enough to surrender control in some slightly preferable circumstance.
Ultimately, I found Unselected to be a highly enjoyable and deeply satisfying examination of the human spirit in all its manifestations, including those times when a character's determination is focused on destruction and horror rather than something more conventionally sustaining. Not every story or character was perfectly to my liking but I took that as a mark of the variety of stories and poetic voices included rather than a point of detraction. There were also a handful of moments when an editorial oversight broke the mood abruptly, something to which I am particularly sensitive as a reader despite being far more guilty of it as a writer. These are minor complaints, however. Unselected is a fascinating and compelling collection of bite-sized portraits of lives being played out like innings in a continually delayed game of baseball: a character with an important secret to share here, a character with a death wish there and beyond them a character who's suddenly found a purpose in life. There are a dozen books that have been in my to-read pile for a year or more and I shoved them all aside to keep reading Unselected. The nature of flash fiction is often that one doesn't know the real "end" of the story but I find that deeply addicting. I would read a given story, look at my watch, contemplate returning to work from lunch then go back to my viewer for another line, another bump, just one more shot. Lewis crafts fascinating worlds and gives us interesting characters then uses them to great effect, teasing us forward page by page. Well worth the price of admission and then some.
couldnt-finish
December 21, 2023DNF @ 16%. Plenty of stuff to read, but the extremely short length and vignette style writing meant it was impossible to grasp onto any of the stories.
They read as if a brain dump of story ideas rather than finished products. Glad this was a freebie, won’t bother with anything else.
They read as if a brain dump of story ideas rather than finished products. Glad this was a freebie, won’t bother with anything else.
July 27, 2016
I’ve followed John Lewis on Google Plus for a while now, and I like the way his mind works. Figured I’d give his writing a try. You know what’s weird about this collection of flash fiction and poetry? I’m not even sure what I was reading half the time, but I still liked it.
That’s saying something, for someone who generally doesn’t enjoy poetry. There were a couple that I liked, but the flash fiction was entertaining and strange. Sometimes I would get to the end and the ending would be a wonderful twist, and sometimes I wondered what the ending meant. There were odd names of people that showed up in multiple stories, and there was always enough time between each one that I found myself straining to remember who the character was and what they did, because I hadn’t expected the disparate stories to come together in any way.
The final collection of related stories were again bizarre and interesting, but when they ended, I wondered why it had ended there.
This whole collection felt like an exercise for my mind. I’m sure there were themes I didn’t disentangle, and I missed some deeper meanings. Or maybe there weren’t any. Perhaps it was just for the fun of playing with words and ideas.
I think that’s what I liked most about these, is there’s room to interpret it as you see fit.
That’s saying something, for someone who generally doesn’t enjoy poetry. There were a couple that I liked, but the flash fiction was entertaining and strange. Sometimes I would get to the end and the ending would be a wonderful twist, and sometimes I wondered what the ending meant. There were odd names of people that showed up in multiple stories, and there was always enough time between each one that I found myself straining to remember who the character was and what they did, because I hadn’t expected the disparate stories to come together in any way.
The final collection of related stories were again bizarre and interesting, but when they ended, I wondered why it had ended there.
This whole collection felt like an exercise for my mind. I’m sure there were themes I didn’t disentangle, and I missed some deeper meanings. Or maybe there weren’t any. Perhaps it was just for the fun of playing with words and ideas.
I think that’s what I liked most about these, is there’s room to interpret it as you see fit.
March 13, 2014
Unselected is a collection of flash fiction and poetry with a strong opening that sets a distinct tone. Said tone continues on through the following few stories, all of which give the reader pause to think.
Unfortunately, that tone is lost towards the middle, which results in an overall change and disconnect. Where the opening tone is one of confidence as it proffers philosophical musings wrapped in cold reality, the new tone is detached and distracted. That detachment drags down the middle stories, leaving them weaker and unable to grab the reader or carry the same weight. The new tone continues on into the final third, where the quality picks up and it shifts into a more peaceful cloud-watching philosophy; the original tone remains entirely lost.
Review continues here.
Unfortunately, that tone is lost towards the middle, which results in an overall change and disconnect. Where the opening tone is one of confidence as it proffers philosophical musings wrapped in cold reality, the new tone is detached and distracted. That detachment drags down the middle stories, leaving them weaker and unable to grab the reader or carry the same weight. The new tone continues on into the final third, where the quality picks up and it shifts into a more peaceful cloud-watching philosophy; the original tone remains entirely lost.
Review continues here.
November 20, 2012
I really enjoyed the book. It is filled with poetry and short fiction stories. I am not much into poetry, but the fiction I really loved. Each story is very thought provoking and had me yearning for more. Loved it, hope he does more!
June 15, 2015
Different
Some of the stories were a little confusing, not sure if I consider them horror. I like a more direct approach.
Some of the stories were a little confusing, not sure if I consider them horror. I like a more direct approach.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews