Daddy Issues

by Isle McElroy

"There are oil slicks in a patrilineal line—spaces in which paternal securities and filial affections lurch and loosen. So how does a daddy make do? In Alex McElroy’s collection Daddy Issues, daddies mourn their children; daddies absent themselves from their children; daddies take the shapes of celebrities to steal away the disguised wives of their children. Sometimes, daddies burn in a barn. Through an accumulation of gears, string, and brute pectoral muscle, McElroy brings these daddies back to life that we may see them as they are, in all their splendor and flop." - thecupboardpamphlet.org

Genres: Short Stories

72 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2007

About the author

Isle McElroy is a non-binary writer based in Brooklyn. Their debut novel, The Atmospherians, was published by Atria and was named a NY Times Editors' Choice. Their second novel, People Collide, is forthcoming from HarperVia. Other writing appears in The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, The Cut, Vulture, GQ, Vogue, The Atlantic, Tin House, and elsewhere.
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Isle was named one of The Strand's 30 Writers to Watch. They have received fellowships from The Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, The Tin House Summer Workshop, The Sewanee Writers Conference, The Inprint Foundation, The Elizabeth George Foundation, and The National Parks Service.

Reviews

[Tyler Barton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love each of the wild alternate realities that these stories live in. ESPECIALLY Daddy Issues, the title story, which is also a list story, and is so finely detailed it's like watching a collage of very-short films.

[J. Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a chapbook full of excellent flash fiction and fiction involving fatherhood. I didn't know Alex McElroy's work before reading this but now I'm a huge fan.

[Kent Winward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Support www.thecupboardpamphlet.org. One of the more interesting small presses.

Where else do you get flow chart short stories?

[Elliott Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super tightly written flash stories about arrested dev in adulthood and bildungsromans with a wry sense of humor. I absolutely adored the opening story.

[Bobby Tiemann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like a Lucid dream, this is quite an adventure

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the formalistic experiments McElroy uses in this chapbook--they're engaging, thoughtful, and purposeful.