Animals in Motion: Stories

by David Ryan

"A debut collection of stories—one of the best in recent memory—that finds psychological acuity within characters who are unreflective or even impenetrable. Ryan has plainly been honing his craft, because the 13 tales here are the work of a writer who knows exactly what he's doing—and challenges the reader to figure out how he's doing it...." —Kirkus (Starred review)

"Ryan's collection triumphs as a spiritual and cerebral journey through oft-ignored parts of the human—and animal—psyche." —Publisher's Weekly

A giant elk is trapped inside the yard of a family of teenaged boys while their tyrannical father gradually shrinks to the size of a doll. A World War II veteran living at a Laurel Canyon ranch in the late '60s faces the threat of changing times and a disturbing, soon to be famous, cult at the next ranch over. A former Olympic contender, after an injury leaves him with a glass eye, takes work as a security guard at the mansion of a ruthless CEO. A child who discovers the scene of a bizarre and unexplained crash in Roswell, New Mexico, fashions the rest of his life through the lens of what he found there...

With language at turns diamond sharp and stone blunt, the thirteen stories of David Ryan's dark and edgy debut, Animals in Motion, map the existence of their characters through the uncharted world of the psyche. The animals that mysteriously appear suggest a leveling, a weave of human experience with that of the natural world. A landscape alive in the space between thought and impulse, where present circumstances are ruled by memories of the past, and where conscious reality is trumped by greater truths of the imagination. Animals in Motion presents an often surreal yet consistently beautiful tapestry of American despair and hope.

"There is not a word wasted in this powerful debut collection. I think that David Ryan has set a course that will influence many other writers, anyone who values language that is taut and precise, characters whose response to their ruin is, in effect, 'Bring it on, and important concerns that claim a reader's attention in the most persuasive ways possible." —Amy Hempel

"David Ryan's collection Animals in Motion is whip-smart and stunning. Stark, lyrical, and unsettling, these stories resonate with the grit of Denis Johnson and Raymond Carver and help us imagine new possibilities for the short story form."—Joe Meno

"David Ryan is a 21st century Steinbeck. His stories are contemplations on the restless soul, lost and meandering through a wilderness of casinos, glass box office buildings, baggage claims, and KFC. The world of Animals in Motion is stark and brutal, but teeming with humanity, wit, heart, and spirit. The complexity beneath Ryan's bare-bones prose puts Animals in Motion on the shelf of books to be read again and again."—Julia Slavin

"From the first page of Animals in Motion one is immersed in the precisionist's world, filled with startling light, stunning events, exquisitely captured moments--a haunting world of which the reader has a particularly wide-angled view. Story after story Ryan works his unique magic, showing us a world as mystifying as it is mundane. This recognition, that the ordinary is very strange indeed, is at the heart of these quiet but searing stories. Animals in Motion is a marvel."—Frederick Barthelme

"Animals in Motion is a revelatory collection, full of gripping stories set in the borderland between reality and dream. David Ryan is a tough-minded but deceptively lyrical writer, with an engagingly dark sensibility."—Tom Perrotta

"The stories in David Ryan's debut collection tack nimbly between terrible unease and terrible beauty. He's a diabolical craftsman. You wouldn't trust him for a minute, except you find you have no choice."—Owen King

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

232 pages, Paperback

First published May 30, 2014

About the author

Author of the forthcoming Alligator (C4G Books) and winner of the 2022 and 2023 O. Henry Prize For Short Fiction, David Ryan‘s work has appeared or is forthcoming in Ploughshares, Soft Union, Alaska Quarterly Review, Conjunctions, The Kenyon Review, The Georgia Review, Harvard Review, New England Review, The Common, The Threepenny Review, Chicago Quarterly Review, Fence, Cincinnati Review, The Florida Review, The Hopkins Review, Puerto del Sol, the Potomac Review, Pinch, BOMB, and elsewhere.

He is the author of the story collection Animals in Motion: Stories (Roundabout Press) and a recipient of fellowships from MacDowell, Elizabeth Yates McGreal Foundation, and the Connecticut Office of the Arts. He teaches in the writing program at Sarah Lawrence College and in New England College’s Low Residency MFA.

Reviews

[janie · Rating 4 out of 5]

we had a skype call with the author during my creative writing class yesterday. he said that the majority of his stories were pretty much about him and i just thought that was a good thing to acknowledge

[V · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was such an intriguing read. language is thoughtful and beautiful. like an artistic, unsettling fever dream. i liked some stories more than others; the more grim tales were highlights. These stories share a haunting tone but a unique perspective that was really provocative. some had me going “wtf” with little reward but mostly worth reading for the imagery. I think it merits another read to more deeply process some of the language and little details. 4 stars.

[in8 · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://5cense.com/21/952.htm

[Lauri · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first three stories blew my mind. Not so much in the plot, but in the richness of the prose and imagery. These stories really made you think, read again. Sentences, paragraphs rich with meaning needed further study. The depth, the realness moved me. The remaining stories read differently. They lost the style of those first three. Still ok reads, just not soul-moving. Definitely worth picking up this quick read for the first few stories. Really impressive writing.