Double Bird

by Bud Smith

In this collection of stories by Bud Smith ... A man finds a seashell and it tells him to do things, some bad, some good … An adjunct professor decides he doesn’t want to teach at the community college anymore, he begins a journey into the underworld, his dog at his side … A giant eagle egg is found lying on the lawn, it shakes and continues to grow larger, and larger … Let’s out go on a date with someone who has little tiny tigers in their blood … Let’s make love to a severed head … A man is crushed with a car and asks a personal favor of the driver, he wants to run some errands around town before he dies—cash this check at the bank, pick up stamps at the post office, go with you on your job interview … These terrible things all happen, but other glowing dreamlike good things happen too. Double Bird. Vivd. Odd. Hurtful. Unloved. Wet with dew. Out of its mind with joy joy joy.

Genres: Short Stories

232 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2018

About the author

Bud Smith is the author of Teenager (Tyrant Book), Double Bird (Maudlin House), WORK (CCM), Dust Bunny City (Disorder Press), among others. He works heavy construction, and lives in Jersey City, NJ.

Reviews

[Janie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how effortless it is to slip into Bud Smith's stories. This collection is a crazy quilt pieced together with the utmost of care. Each character is trying to find a place to fit. Whether they have a tenuous grip on reality, are involved in unusual circumstances, or are simply damaged or unlucky, the author treats them with understanding and compassion. We are drawn into their worlds with an ease of language and genuine dialogue. We feel their fragility, and, ultimately, they lift us up. Encore, please, Mr. Smith.

[Bud Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories are in this book. They're all odd ducks. I wrote them at my desk in Jersey City, in a pink room, right next to a very loud street.

1.
Tiger Blood
Gling Gling Gling
Tuesday
Agartha
Leaving Las Vegas
Junior in the Tunnels
Birthday!
The Moon
rek-rek-kek-kek-kek
Random Balloons
American Flags

2.
Wolves
31,028

3.
Goblin
Schwimps
Good Gravy
Everybody’s Darlin’
Jangle Bell
E - A - D - G - B -E
Everyone (Everyone, Everyone, Everyone)
The Wasteland Motel
Franklin
When I Touch Your Face

4.
Rabbit Driving Cellphone

5.
Only the Gentle
Temporarily Here
Forks, Knives, Spoons
Roast Beast
Double Bird
Blue, Blue, Electric Blue
The Lost Girls
JANT
Pentagram
The Paralyzer
Rye
Enoch
Scanner
RIP
Boss
Freebird

[Nathanimal · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. If these stories were drawings they wouldn’t care so much about shading or perspective or tricking the brain into believing it’s really seeing something. These are scribbles. Doodles. While I kinda missed things like setting and character, this is proof that you don’t need all that. Sometimes a story can be all voice so long as, like Bud Smith, you have a lot of swagger and heart. I say sometimes because if you do it all the time it starts to feel like you’re telling the same story over and over. Still, happy I bumped into this.

[Devin Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tiger Blood is in this book and Tiger Blood is a perfect story. 5/5 perfect. 6/5 if I could.

[Dylan Angell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This books covers a lot of ground. At times I thought of the brevity of Lydia Davis's work, the humor of Russell Edson and the weird beautiful ramblings of Frank Stanford. I also thought of In a Dark, Dark Room and strange books I read as a little kid. It's a fun ride. Highly recommended.

[Aaron Dietz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is your usual great Bud Smith short story book but with a section at the beginning that is like a special Ben Loory-inspired section, like Bud doing fine impressions of such.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a little unsure about these stories in the beginning but they got better and better and grew on me by the end.

[Bob Raymonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Double Bird by was 40 stories of beautiful meandering surrealism. His stream of consciousness is always gratifying, and his characters are weird as heck. A new Bud Smith book is always a reason to celebrate. Read this, you’ll laugh and smile and laugh and laugh

[Matthew Meade · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories work in concert with one another, but they don’t actually pull anything off. They are like charming characters in a heist film where the thieves don’t ever actually get around to stealing anything.

The stories are often barely stories. Fragments really. Or perhaps story fractals. They are shards, jagged and serrated, the whole story of the lives of the characters often obscured, beside the point the way the life of the subject of a story you tell your coworker doesn’t matter. All that matters is what happened and what that means to us, the reader, the consumer: in this way this collection is wise and either prescient of a coming phase of literature or just damaged by the current disease of social media.

I kept waiting for things to cohere, for some great truth to emerge, some hidden depth to be discovered, but that’s not what it’s about. It’s about the time you busted your tooth, the time your brother-in-law stole a car, the time your boss got the clap. This isn’t about the world. This has no grand design on things, but why should it? Who does? Who could be so presumptuous as to tell you what it’s all about inside the covers of a book. Who could have such insane expectations that you would want your books to save you? Maybe all that matters is that these stories are thoughtful and strange and seem to be trying to be honest and I always looked forward to reading them. Isn’t that enough? What more do you want, damnit?

[Downward · Rating 5 out of 5]

most of these stories are about dropping out of society. i read almost this whole book in hospital waiting rooms. it helped.

[Zach Werbalowsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the re-read I figured out Bud taught me how to write. Or helped me find my voice. thanks dawg.

[Sheldon Birnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goddamn, this is the good stuff right here!

[Romey Petite · Rating 5 out of 5]

I still haven’t finished Double Bird cover to cover. I like to cherrypick through collections of short stories. Sample a handful at a time.

It’s a good book for that.

What I can say for certain: This stuff boils like blood in the vacuum of space. Smith is one of those rare writers who can walk the fine line between being flippant and facetious. He reminds you what the rest of us don’t have the gall to get away with.

He’s also a fun guy.

Whether or not Smith would consider himself an absurdist, its humorous menace suffuses the stories here. I’d compare him to Vonnegut, but that wouldn’t be right. I’d only be drawing a comparison between their approaches to pacing. I really don’t know of anyone out there writing (or having written) short fiction that sizzles quite like these.

These are my reasons for why you should order a copy of Double Bird, like, right now—or at your nearest convenience.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an astounding collection of surreal, endearing, wild, hilarious, strange, and deeply poignant stories about common people in bizarre situations and bizarre people in common situations. They're the type of stories that are waving a fistful of sparklers in your face with one hand and showing you the beating heart of the most exposed and bare emotions with the other, so watch closely as you read. You may think he's being weird for weird's sake, but there's always something else going on in Bud's layered stories. One of the best short story collections out there. I loved this book and I hope you do too.

[Liam Sheridan · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've ever had to hide from someone you love, sneaking through an adjacent room while they chop greens in the kitchen, quietly enjoying the thrill of being unseen, or if you've been left holding the bag, maybe a literal bag, say, if you've been in danger, life-threatening style, or if you're running for a bus, late for work, in the horrible rain, and when you finally jump on it turns out the bus driver isn't quite human, and it turns out you got fired yesterday too, for being an idiot who doesn't own an umbrella, these stories are for you.

I read them before bedtime and it felt like how my parents used to read me to sleep except with lies. And yes, Tiger Blood is a perfect story.

[Tony Rello · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly do not understand why this author is not the next big thing. I’m an avid reader with a stack of books, many classics, in front of me. That said, I feel a great sense of loss now because Mr. Smith’s are not available or accessible. I hunger for them, know that they are there but cannot find them. I pray that he is awarded the recognition he deserves and selfishly, that we gain access to his beautiful work soon. Thank you Mr. Smith!!!!

[Benjamin Niespodziany · Rating 5 out of 5]

A realistic Bud Smith story (or novel, or memoir) is a delight, but a surrealist Bud Smith story is even better. These strange yet sincere tales are unique and touching, marching to an unknown time signature, dancing shirtless on a rooftop with a mouth full of mushrooms. Ten thumbs up.

[Nicholas Pendleton · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a majority of the runtime this feels like a collection of writing exercises or classroom prompts. But there are a handful of beautiful stories hiding in the pages, which pushes it from three stars to four.

[AutomaticSlim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hey bud, I'm sorry I gave a couple of your books less than stellar reviews, 'cause you're hitting dingers here. One after another, ding ding ding. Taters, four baggers, moon shots, bombs. Out of the f'n park home runs. A master of the little joke, my favorite aspect of fiction.

5 stars here

[Josh Denslow · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me feel things. Full review coming from The Fanzine soon.

[Howard Parsons · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent. amazing. wild. fuggetaboutit. ayyyy.

[Bart Schaneman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny. Inventive. Sad. Imaginative. A good book of short fiction.

[Brittney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wacky and unfathomable, as all the best short stories are.

[Abbigayle Mathis · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite thing I’ve read in years. Bud Smith captures the beauty in the ugliest parts of humanity, with all the humor that only the most boring game parts of life can inspire. A must read.

[Benjamin Bond West · Rating 5 out of 5]

I say this a lot but this is definitely my favorite book

[Jacob Ostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is like a fever dream you don’t want to wake up from. It put lumps in my throat, laughs in my belly, and gave me new perspectives on what a story can be. Thank you, Bud!

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

May the spirit of Richard Brautigan continue to bestow his blessings upon you, Bud.

[Cody · Rating 4 out of 5]

very funny and immersive little collection of moments. i expected the laughs and the surrealness but the poignant vulnerability was a pleasant surprise

[Liz Youngman · Rating 5 out of 5]

SO GOOD!

[Ivy Murillo · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5
Another one of those weird nonsensical short story books. Writing is good but stories for the most part aren't. Best imo:

E-A-D-G-E-B
The Wasteland Motel
Only the Gentle
Temporarily Here