No Shit, There I Was

by Alex Acks (Editor), William R.D. Wood

Is there a better way to start a story than

"No shit, there I was..."?

If you hear that phrase, perk up, because you know you're in for a heck of a tale. That's how all the craziest - and most interesting - stories start.

And then we told a bunch of authors to make sure their stories started with that very phrase.

Edited by Alex Acks, and featuring stories by Matt Dovey,Stewart Baker, William Ledbetter, James Beamon, Rachael K Jones, Wren Wallis, Heather Morris, E. Catherine Tobler, Tyler Hayes, Darcie Little Badger, Jo Robson, Premee Mohamed, R. K. Duncan, Sarah Tchernev, Linda Tyler, Anne M. Gibson, Andrew Barton, Sunil Patel, David Jón Fuller, William Wood, Devyani Borade, Adrian Simmons, Frances Rowat, Lou J Berger, and Alanna McFall with interior illustrations by Shannon Legler, Hannah Spiegleman, Emma St. John. Jane Baker, Jenna Fowler, and Amy Baker and a cover by Brandon Chng, this volume is sure to have something to satisfy you.

Grab a pint of your favorite beverage and gather round. We've got two dozen stories here to horrify, amuse, and mystify, each with their own illustration.

Hard to believe, but no shit... there I was.

Genres: Short Stories, Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Audiobook, Anthologies, Paranormal

381 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 22, 2017

Reviews

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with any collection of short stories, there were some I liked better than others. This collection was quite good, I think there were only two stories that didn't catch me on some level and that I just skimmed. My top 5, in no particular order:

The Former Minions Support Group by Alanna McFall - Very fun premise, well done. Touching and entertaining at the same time.

The Storyteller's Sleight by Wren Wallis - A really impressive amount of world and character building in a relatively short story.

Skinwalker, Fast-Talker by Darcie Little Badger - A really enjoyable modern day coyote story

Episodes from the Abner-Mortimer Karmic War - Very different from the other stories, but engaging and with a really well done unreliable narrator.

How I Became Coruscating Queen of All the Realms, Pierced the Obsidian Night, Destroyed a Legendary Sword, and Saved My Heart's True Love by Baker & Dovey - Ridiculous and over the top in the best way, as is fairly evident from the title.

[ECH · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not expect anything so consistently high-quality, fun, and varied. It's all from authors I had never heard of too! My reading list probably just ballooned. Thanks a lot.

[Chrysten Lofton · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0⭐ “I might come from the stone age,” he said, “But that doesn’t mean I can’t use google. You’re a journalist!”

**spoilers**

♡ LBR 2020♡

It’s LeVar Burton Reads season 6, and we’re gifted with “Skinwalker, Fast Talker” by Darcie Little Badger.

I love this story because it’s fun to think about.

Imagine having a job that mocks journalism. A job where your articles literally jest. They’re a great creative outlet, they’re more for entertainment than actual information...

And like, oops, this is actually becomes the venue for the biggest breaking story of the twenty-first century x-)

Like how ripped is that?! Like fuck, I am finally, and in the best possible venue, delivering an authentic and vital story to humanity and...well, it’s never going to be credited. And even for those who acknowledge it, THEY are the cranks of society, THEY can't be taken seriously.

I love the idea that working in a line of creative satire would incidentally put you in the way of unimaginable, unfathomable, reality-breaking monsters, and you can’t TELL ANYONE. Your spouse, your best friend, everyone will just shrug you off, like, “You’ve been working too hard. Reel it in. Take a vacation. Get some rest.”

SO YOU GOTTA JUST LIVE WITH THAT SHIT.

And MC takes it hilariously well, my thinking is that they get vid/photo submissions and stories so often, they’ve come to believe that out of everything, there is that tiny 1% that can’t be faked. So the acceptance was slowly built over time.

I also enjoy this oh-so-nefarious villain being kicked down to the level of an everyday con artist, and it wasn’t inauthentic, his human alias did dirty business, and even in full form, that's how the pandering and ego of this character translates.

Beyond clever. Loved it. I think it would make a badass animated short or episode of love death & robots.

Thanks for reading, and If you wanna chat about the latest LBR episodes, hit me up in the comments and come meet with us at LeVar Burton Reads: The Official Community on Facebook.

- 📚☕♥

Goodreads Official Star Representation

5 - It was amazing
4 - I really liked it
3 - I liked it
2 - It was okay
1 - Did not like it.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I signed on to the kickstarter for this because a friend of mine was on the list of authors. It took a long while for the book to arrive but I'm glad I did because the resulting book was a fun read and worth the money just from seeing how the various authors interpreted the basic premise.

[Notes From 'Round the Bend · Rating 4 out of 5]

No Shit, There I Was was a mixed bag: sci-fi, fantasy, contemporary, paranormal… you name it (other than romance) and it was in here. This collection was made up of 24 short stories, each by a different author, and they ran the gamut of tones from hilarious to absurd to dark to depressing. Some were better than others (“Episodes from the Abner-Mortimer Karmic War” was great) and there were a few that didn’t really feel like stories at all (“The Devil’s Apprentice” and “First of the North” were scenes more than anything). There were a couple of stories rife with typos. (“Incursion” was one. It was missing articles all over the damn place.) The varying quality is what earned this a B rating instead of an A.

Read the full review at http://redhotbooks.com/2017/01/review...

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to Skinwalker, Fast-Talker by Darcie Little Badger on the LeVar Burton Reads podcast, and the beginning opens as does all the stories in the collection with "No shit, there I was". A journalist for a tabloid-type magazine is assigned a job to research a possible Skinwalker aka a Coyote of Native American lore and is surprised as anyone to find out this conman is the real thing. She is able to con him into revealing his true self but knows that the public actually believing the story is another thing entirely!

[Sarah Rusnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating for “Skinwalker, Fast Talker” by Darcie Little Badger on the LeVar Burton Reads podcast.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 rounded down for "Skinwalker, Fast-talker" by Darcie Little Badger in this collection.

[Ryan Balaski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Levar burton reads podcast

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is an irony that I literally just finished moments before I started listening to this.

I rather enjoyed this.

I liked the main character.

A fun little listen.

LeVar of course did a great job, and his insights at the end were very interesting.

[David Blaylock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read to me by LeVar Burton.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Skin Walker Fast Talker, Darcie Little Badger