Notes from the Nineties

by M. Thomas Apple

A beach in Ireland, a mountain temple in Japan, a hot summer drive in the Bronx, a dentist's office in Michigan, a hospital in San Francisco, and a bus ride through the Hudson Valley. Notes from the Nineties ties these disparate stories together with poems and photos between, with raw emotions: rage, tenderness, vindictiveness, jealousy, terror, sorrow, loss, acceptance.

Stories featured in this collection include:

Cois Fharraige - A group of exchange students in Ireland find more to do than study language
Father Knows Least - A college baseball player at home during winter break discovers all is not well with family
The Firebrand - What happens when you're lost and your car breaks down in New York City?
Kannuki - Self-disclosure is not necessarily the same as closure
Boys Will be Boys - Family relations can sometimes be close...too close...
The Lost Bunny Shrine of Annandale - Come with us into the Enchanted Forest. It's not too dark...
Pockets - What happened after that one party? Only Rose knows...
Frank - He says he's a liar...speaking frankly...
The Four Teeth of the Apocrypha - Dentists and the occult should never mix
The Green and the Grey - On the bus from Albany, a chance conversation between fellow passengers may be telling
Training the Mountain Warrior - I did, actually, dangle my friend off a cliff in Japan. Seriously.

154 pages, Paperback

Published March 25, 2016

About the author

Long ago, I gave up my high school dreams of becoming the next Carl Sagan and instead wound up working (in order) at a video rental store, a used bookstore, a computer seller, Kinko's, a Jewish newspaper company, and an HR firm. I eventually became a teacher of intercultural communication in Kyoto, where I vainly attempt to apply quantum mechanics to language teaching, practice martial arts and Zen Buddhism, and always keep one eye on the sky.

Reviews

[Maree Hodgess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Notes from the Nineties is a collection of short stories and poems that made me feel a little bit like I had just read the diary entries of various people but they don't really lead very exciting lives.

There were a few stories in the collection that I found it hard to maintain interest in, such as The Firebrand which details the mounting frustration of a lost driver and The Lost Bunny Shrine of Annandale which is a drunken journey made by some college students.
I found it hard to finish The Four Teeth of the Apocrypha as well but mostly due to the fact it is a detailed account of a rather horrific visit to the dentist.

Having said that I really enjoyed the poem Parallel Conundrum and the short story Kannuki.

[Abhishek Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book through Goodreads Giveaway.
This is a book containing short stories and poems. Rooting from simplicity, it was a nice time reading them. A few poems were good and some stories were very nice.
A nice collection!

[Billie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a collection of short stories and poems. The author has some black and white photography included throughout the book. Some of the themes were quite interesting, others not so much. I received a copy of the book from Goodreads Giveaways for an honest review.