What do you think?
Rate this book
Your Pick: Selected Stories
For fans of literary short fiction, Your Pick is the ideal introduction to the works of V.S. Kemanis.
Carefully selected from the author’s four collections, the dozen stories in this volume are reader favorites. These are the stories that have resonated deepest, bringing tears and smiles, wonder and discovery. Simply, the best. “Kemanis knows how to build a story and keep it going” (Foreword Reviews on Love and Stories).
From the introduction by the
“Dear Readers, I’ve listened to you and learned from you. These are your picks. New Readers, take these stories and escape into worlds unknown yet familiar, imbued with universal situations, conflicts, and emotions. My characters are everyday people navigating the breadth of human love, loss, attraction, repulsion, rejection, acceptance, despair, joy, temptation, loneliness, creativity, self-discovery, failure, success. Enter the lives of these characters and let them stir feelings deep within you.”
Your Pick includes stories from these
Love and Stories (Top Shelf Book Awards 2018 Finalist): “Rosemary and Reuben” and “Journal Entry, Franklin DeWitt” (first published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine)
Dust of the Universe, tales of family (Commended—SPR Book Awards 2014): “My Latvian Aunt” (a Glimmer Train Top-25 award winner), “Like Love,” “Reckoning,” and “Dust of the Universe”
Everyone But Us, tales of women (The Kindle Book Review Awards 2013 Nominee): “The Cost of Ice Cream,” “Pianissimo, Fortissimo,” and “The Missing and Uninvited”
Malocclusion, tales of misdemeanor (BP Readers’ Choice Awards 2014 Nominee): “Malocclusion,” “Gray Zone,” and “Fractals”
Carefully selected from the author’s four collections, the dozen stories in this volume are reader favorites. These are the stories that have resonated deepest, bringing tears and smiles, wonder and discovery. Simply, the best. “Kemanis knows how to build a story and keep it going” (Foreword Reviews on Love and Stories).
From the introduction by the
“Dear Readers, I’ve listened to you and learned from you. These are your picks. New Readers, take these stories and escape into worlds unknown yet familiar, imbued with universal situations, conflicts, and emotions. My characters are everyday people navigating the breadth of human love, loss, attraction, repulsion, rejection, acceptance, despair, joy, temptation, loneliness, creativity, self-discovery, failure, success. Enter the lives of these characters and let them stir feelings deep within you.”
Your Pick includes stories from these
Love and Stories (Top Shelf Book Awards 2018 Finalist): “Rosemary and Reuben” and “Journal Entry, Franklin DeWitt” (first published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine)
Dust of the Universe, tales of family (Commended—SPR Book Awards 2014): “My Latvian Aunt” (a Glimmer Train Top-25 award winner), “Like Love,” “Reckoning,” and “Dust of the Universe”
Everyone But Us, tales of women (The Kindle Book Review Awards 2013 Nominee): “The Cost of Ice Cream,” “Pianissimo, Fortissimo,” and “The Missing and Uninvited”
Malocclusion, tales of misdemeanor (BP Readers’ Choice Awards 2014 Nominee): “Malocclusion,” “Gray Zone,” and “Fractals”
- GenresFiction
278 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 23, 2018
About the author
V.S. Kemanis
26 books136 followersAward-winning author V.S. Kemanis has a professional background in the law and the arts. As a lawyer, she worked many years as a litigator in New York’s criminal justice system and as a supervising editor of decisions for the busiest appellate court in the country. An accomplished dancer of ballet and contemporary styles, Kemanis has performed, choreographed, and taught dance in California, Colorado, and New York.
Short fiction by Ms. Kemanis has been published in literary journals, magazines, and anthologies including Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, The Crooked Road Volume 3, The Best Laid Plans, Me Too Short Stories, and Autumn Noir, among others. Her book, Your Pick: Selected Stories, won the Eric Hoffer Award for best story collection and was a Montaigne Medal Finalist. Other award-winning stories are published in four volumes, Dust of the Universe, Everyone But Us, Malocclusion, and Love and Crime. Legal thrillers Thursday’s List, Homicide Chart, Forsaken Oath, Deep Zero, Seven Shadows, and Power Blind feature prosecutor Dana Hargrove who, like the author, juggles the competing demands of family with a high-powered professional career in the law.
Ms. Kemanis is a member of Mystery Writers of America.
Short fiction by Ms. Kemanis has been published in literary journals, magazines, and anthologies including Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, The Crooked Road Volume 3, The Best Laid Plans, Me Too Short Stories, and Autumn Noir, among others. Her book, Your Pick: Selected Stories, won the Eric Hoffer Award for best story collection and was a Montaigne Medal Finalist. Other award-winning stories are published in four volumes, Dust of the Universe, Everyone But Us, Malocclusion, and Love and Crime. Legal thrillers Thursday’s List, Homicide Chart, Forsaken Oath, Deep Zero, Seven Shadows, and Power Blind feature prosecutor Dana Hargrove who, like the author, juggles the competing demands of family with a high-powered professional career in the law.
Ms. Kemanis is a member of Mystery Writers of America.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 29, 2018
The author created an anthology of a dozen of her most acclaimed short stories. Laced with a quick-witted, even-tempered style of writing, it set my Kindle ablaze. With a distinguishable voice, the storyline danced to an eclectic array of tales from everyday life. Diversity was the key. The prose was well-written and made for an entertaining read. Being able to gobble up clear and concise down-to-earth mouthfuls from beginning to end in the blink of an eye made for a welcome change of pace.
I offer my gratitude to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.
I offer my gratitude to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.
June 25, 2019
A collection of surprisingly good stories, some sweet, some sour, some disturbing and weird, some playful from an author I was unfamiliar with. I will definitely look for more from Kemanis.
I received this book free in exchange for an honest review on Goodreads.
I received this book free in exchange for an honest review on Goodreads.
November 3, 2023
A good story either breaks the reader’s heart or makes it sing. An excellent story has the power to do both.
“Dust of the Universe”, a story from the short story collection “Your Pick: Selected Stories” by V.S. Kemanis, made my heart break into a million pieces, but it filled with light again by the time I finished reading it.
Demonstrating a profound knowledge of human nature – and various professions – the author doesn’t spare details to make us completely invested in every story.
Reading “Pianissimo, Fortissimo”, I mused again why I had left playing the piano behind. I got my answer. “Whether alone or with an orchestra, I have no separate existence. My body should not be seen. I’m no more than an instrument of the voice speaking through me.” I’d never felt this way when playing. I’d always been conscious about my performance and worried about making mistakes. When music is your true calling, the pull of the melody and the instrument overshadows any worries. The feeling of complete immersion is beautifully described in this heart-wrenching and at the same time uplifting short story.
“Rosemary and Reuben” is a surprising dive into the inner life of the couple – let’s say, that doesn’t fit into the traditional expectations of how lovers arrive at the “happily-ever-after” station. Have you heard about hyperosmia and hypergeusia before? Even if you had, I doubt you can imagine how these unpleasant conditions can help find one’s true love.
“He’s learned to remain quiet. Honesty doesn’t require more, and self-explanation is useless when the recipient will never really understand.” Some say that other people are like open books. Others that they are a mystery. Arthur in “Reckoning” believes that he will never be understood by others. So, he stopped trying to make them see beyond his shell. “Arthur learned this hard lesson years ago, when his youthful exuberance fell on deaf ears and his colors met blindness and his ideas were received with blank smiles and speechlessness. Gradually, over time, he’s been shaped on the outside to resemble anyone else, a creeping crumble into grayness, while he continues to live on the inside, sending out tendrils of hope.” And what a life it is! Moderately successful and pedantic, Arthur doesn’t attract attention. But what if someone who lives in a similar shell manages to peek through the outer grey wall?
Each story from this collection is like a micro-universe, multi-layered and deep, hiding the lives ‘before’ and ‘after’, at the same time submerging the reader into the present with vivid descriptions and details that make each character real. Every story, selected from the highly acclaimed and literary award-winning story collections, reveals a moment in time for a person, a family, or a team of colleagues with a somewhat painful clarity. And because of this uncompromising exposure, we become participants - rather than readers - in each character’s life journey.
“Dust of the Universe”, a story from the short story collection “Your Pick: Selected Stories” by V.S. Kemanis, made my heart break into a million pieces, but it filled with light again by the time I finished reading it.
Demonstrating a profound knowledge of human nature – and various professions – the author doesn’t spare details to make us completely invested in every story.
Reading “Pianissimo, Fortissimo”, I mused again why I had left playing the piano behind. I got my answer. “Whether alone or with an orchestra, I have no separate existence. My body should not be seen. I’m no more than an instrument of the voice speaking through me.” I’d never felt this way when playing. I’d always been conscious about my performance and worried about making mistakes. When music is your true calling, the pull of the melody and the instrument overshadows any worries. The feeling of complete immersion is beautifully described in this heart-wrenching and at the same time uplifting short story.
“Rosemary and Reuben” is a surprising dive into the inner life of the couple – let’s say, that doesn’t fit into the traditional expectations of how lovers arrive at the “happily-ever-after” station. Have you heard about hyperosmia and hypergeusia before? Even if you had, I doubt you can imagine how these unpleasant conditions can help find one’s true love.
“He’s learned to remain quiet. Honesty doesn’t require more, and self-explanation is useless when the recipient will never really understand.” Some say that other people are like open books. Others that they are a mystery. Arthur in “Reckoning” believes that he will never be understood by others. So, he stopped trying to make them see beyond his shell. “Arthur learned this hard lesson years ago, when his youthful exuberance fell on deaf ears and his colors met blindness and his ideas were received with blank smiles and speechlessness. Gradually, over time, he’s been shaped on the outside to resemble anyone else, a creeping crumble into grayness, while he continues to live on the inside, sending out tendrils of hope.” And what a life it is! Moderately successful and pedantic, Arthur doesn’t attract attention. But what if someone who lives in a similar shell manages to peek through the outer grey wall?
Each story from this collection is like a micro-universe, multi-layered and deep, hiding the lives ‘before’ and ‘after’, at the same time submerging the reader into the present with vivid descriptions and details that make each character real. Every story, selected from the highly acclaimed and literary award-winning story collections, reveals a moment in time for a person, a family, or a team of colleagues with a somewhat painful clarity. And because of this uncompromising exposure, we become participants - rather than readers - in each character’s life journey.
April 1, 2019
V.S. Kemanis infuses this award-winning collection of a dozen reader favorites with an uncanny talent for observation and a deep well of empathy for human strengths and foibles. No doubt she has drawn deeply from her own life in some of these selected stories; her accomplished background in criminal law and in dance and choreography gives her considerable clout as she deftly draws exquisite word paintings of dueling public defenders (“Gray Zone”) and defecting Soviet dancers (“Journal Entry: Francis DeWitt”) that resonate with clarity and truth.
With this keen eye and an ear for rhythmic prose, Kemanis even infuses mundane daily situations such as a dentist appointment (“Malocclusion”), a hands-on business audit (“Reckoning”), or a shopping trip (“The Cost of Ice Cream”) with such vivid clarity that readers will feel transported into the tales as though watching an art film of slice-of-life vignettes.
One can only guess at the origins of some stories, but readers can wager that if Kemanis has not directly experienced the plot threads and rubbed elbows with the characters on these pages, then she’s used her considerable talent in comingling imagination with real-life observation to bring these situations and characters to full bloom. No surprise that her website bio details an urban life rich with people and intellectual inquiry.
The collection begins on a slow note with “My Latvian Aunt,” a story that feels slightly repetitive and strained at first, even if ultimately deeply absorbing, but the reading inexorably picks up steam as one moves from situation to situation, ending on a happy note with a confident husband truly in love with his wife (“Like Love”). No two stories are similar except in their fine-tuned prose and nearly perfect pacing, and in the perceptions gleaned from the author’s deep, intuitive characterizations and astute cultural references.
A page-turner, the collection is hard to put down, yet readers will want to graze slowly to make this truly fragrant literary bouquet even more memorable. In fact, this is a collection to shelve and admire many times over. If Your Pick is readers first exposure to Kemanis’ work, most will definitely want to read her other four story collections and her four mystery/suspense novels.
With this keen eye and an ear for rhythmic prose, Kemanis even infuses mundane daily situations such as a dentist appointment (“Malocclusion”), a hands-on business audit (“Reckoning”), or a shopping trip (“The Cost of Ice Cream”) with such vivid clarity that readers will feel transported into the tales as though watching an art film of slice-of-life vignettes.
One can only guess at the origins of some stories, but readers can wager that if Kemanis has not directly experienced the plot threads and rubbed elbows with the characters on these pages, then she’s used her considerable talent in comingling imagination with real-life observation to bring these situations and characters to full bloom. No surprise that her website bio details an urban life rich with people and intellectual inquiry.
The collection begins on a slow note with “My Latvian Aunt,” a story that feels slightly repetitive and strained at first, even if ultimately deeply absorbing, but the reading inexorably picks up steam as one moves from situation to situation, ending on a happy note with a confident husband truly in love with his wife (“Like Love”). No two stories are similar except in their fine-tuned prose and nearly perfect pacing, and in the perceptions gleaned from the author’s deep, intuitive characterizations and astute cultural references.
A page-turner, the collection is hard to put down, yet readers will want to graze slowly to make this truly fragrant literary bouquet even more memorable. In fact, this is a collection to shelve and admire many times over. If Your Pick is readers first exposure to Kemanis’ work, most will definitely want to read her other four story collections and her four mystery/suspense novels.
December 22, 2018
A dozen of Kemanis' most popular stories make good reading. This is a no spoilers review.
Your Pick by V. S. Kemanis is a reader's choice collection presenting her most loved short stories. The stories vary in topic but through them, all plots revolve around assumptions, misunderstandings, and love. Each story is different. Most are heartwarming, and those that aren't were not meant to be. Some of the stories left this reader scratching her head and laughing at the ridiculous situations that assumptions, misunderstandings, and love make for a person. Kemanis' stories peel away. like an onion, the misguided, and sometimes well-founded, ideas that her characters come up with as the story reveals the reality and heart of the matter of the relationships. She explores the happiness, angst, and sorrow of being human with both wit and wisdom.
This collection contains a dozen stories: each distinct and entertaining. Kemanis writes beautifully.
Her believable dialogue reveals the characters who are well-crafted into interesting people. I heartily recommend this collection of short stories.
I usually review mysteries, thrillers, and science fiction, so I feel the need to assure the reader that these are mainstream stories. I received a review copy of the book.
Your Pick by V. S. Kemanis is a reader's choice collection presenting her most loved short stories. The stories vary in topic but through them, all plots revolve around assumptions, misunderstandings, and love. Each story is different. Most are heartwarming, and those that aren't were not meant to be. Some of the stories left this reader scratching her head and laughing at the ridiculous situations that assumptions, misunderstandings, and love make for a person. Kemanis' stories peel away. like an onion, the misguided, and sometimes well-founded, ideas that her characters come up with as the story reveals the reality and heart of the matter of the relationships. She explores the happiness, angst, and sorrow of being human with both wit and wisdom.
This collection contains a dozen stories: each distinct and entertaining. Kemanis writes beautifully.
Her believable dialogue reveals the characters who are well-crafted into interesting people. I heartily recommend this collection of short stories.
I usually review mysteries, thrillers, and science fiction, so I feel the need to assure the reader that these are mainstream stories. I received a review copy of the book.
Read
January 3, 2019ADVANCE EDITORIAL REVIEWS:
5-Star Rating from Readers' Favorite:
"Rich in metaphors and intensely provocative descriptive passages, these stories are to be tasted, savored, enjoyed and read over and over again.
"Your Pick: Selected Stories is a powerful tribute to this author's mastery of the art of creating not just a good story, but a story that needs to be read many times to appreciate the full power of its presentation. From themes of love (acceptance and rejection), to racial issues, to life's unexplained tragedies, and everything in between, this collection presents a raw view of life...
"The greatest power in this author's writing is the use of description... These stories sing. With both power and conviction." [Click here to read the full review.]
RECOMMENDED by The U.S. Review of Books:
"Kemanis' stories run the gamut of experience and emotion, and within virtually every one, a secret is revealed that reinforces or explains behavior. To reveal what's initially hidden would spoil the reader's moment of enlightenment, which occurs less often as shock and more frequently as gradual illumination. What do the stories actually include? The same things that life includes: regret, longing, dissatisfaction, friendships blossoming, relationships falling apart, fear, love, loss, hope--all the things that make life simultaneously mesmerizing and mystifying.
"Kemanis is a writer of substance. She exposes expressions of despair hidden behind masks of joviality. She hears and conveys what people think regardless of what they say. She creates moments of tension, drama, and pathos in the midst of seemingly benign situations. Proof of this is her tale of a tax audit that will break your heart. A wise person once said there are no boring stories, only boring writers. Kemanis authors the former and is the polar opposite of the latter." [Click here to read the full review.]
5-Star Rating from Readers' Favorite:
"Rich in metaphors and intensely provocative descriptive passages, these stories are to be tasted, savored, enjoyed and read over and over again.
"Your Pick: Selected Stories is a powerful tribute to this author's mastery of the art of creating not just a good story, but a story that needs to be read many times to appreciate the full power of its presentation. From themes of love (acceptance and rejection), to racial issues, to life's unexplained tragedies, and everything in between, this collection presents a raw view of life...
"The greatest power in this author's writing is the use of description... These stories sing. With both power and conviction." [Click here to read the full review.]
RECOMMENDED by The U.S. Review of Books:
"Kemanis' stories run the gamut of experience and emotion, and within virtually every one, a secret is revealed that reinforces or explains behavior. To reveal what's initially hidden would spoil the reader's moment of enlightenment, which occurs less often as shock and more frequently as gradual illumination. What do the stories actually include? The same things that life includes: regret, longing, dissatisfaction, friendships blossoming, relationships falling apart, fear, love, loss, hope--all the things that make life simultaneously mesmerizing and mystifying.
"Kemanis is a writer of substance. She exposes expressions of despair hidden behind masks of joviality. She hears and conveys what people think regardless of what they say. She creates moments of tension, drama, and pathos in the midst of seemingly benign situations. Proof of this is her tale of a tax audit that will break your heart. A wise person once said there are no boring stories, only boring writers. Kemanis authors the former and is the polar opposite of the latter." [Click here to read the full review.]
January 16, 2019
V.S. Kemanis is a writer’s writer. This collection of some of her best short stories are accessible to a wide variety of readers, whether voracious or casual. The journeys of the characters (some spanning the course of years, others an afternoon) are relatable and engrossing. They are the standard fare and scope one would expect from this genre. Each is rewarding and delivers a satisfying emotional punch.
But peel the layers away and you find a level of craft that is nothing short of masterful—all the more so for its understatement. Kemanis’ language is restrained and at times poetic without calling attention to itself. The result comes off as balanced and effortless. As I read, I found myself completely drawn in by her use of small, significant details, appealing to all my senses and putting me in her settings in a concrete way.
Kemanis’ effective use of detail to build a rich, immersive reading experience aligns with a broader theme of these stories: how memory and meaning can reside in physical objects, whether a photo album, a crooked smile, or a For-Sale sign in a yard with an empty swing set. With Kenamis' pen, these observations of tiny details offer volumes of backstory.
The characters of Your Pick, whether an idealistic lawyer, teenage girls, an orthodontist, an IRS auditor, elderly women, young ballerinas, (and more) reside in a web of interconnections, family, friends, customers and otherwise. Their exchanges illuminate how even our own relationships can be equally healing and hurtful, but never just one or the other. Her characters, for all their varied backgrounds, are rendered with superbly convincing technical details of their crafts and professions—a credit to the lives the author has lived and/or a talent for research and keen observation.
And for me, that is perhaps my favorite aspect of this collection, rarely have I read short stories wherein all the characters bear such credible stamps of authenticity. As a result, each story was a surprise, never predictable, and always profound.
But peel the layers away and you find a level of craft that is nothing short of masterful—all the more so for its understatement. Kemanis’ language is restrained and at times poetic without calling attention to itself. The result comes off as balanced and effortless. As I read, I found myself completely drawn in by her use of small, significant details, appealing to all my senses and putting me in her settings in a concrete way.
Kemanis’ effective use of detail to build a rich, immersive reading experience aligns with a broader theme of these stories: how memory and meaning can reside in physical objects, whether a photo album, a crooked smile, or a For-Sale sign in a yard with an empty swing set. With Kenamis' pen, these observations of tiny details offer volumes of backstory.
The characters of Your Pick, whether an idealistic lawyer, teenage girls, an orthodontist, an IRS auditor, elderly women, young ballerinas, (and more) reside in a web of interconnections, family, friends, customers and otherwise. Their exchanges illuminate how even our own relationships can be equally healing and hurtful, but never just one or the other. Her characters, for all their varied backgrounds, are rendered with superbly convincing technical details of their crafts and professions—a credit to the lives the author has lived and/or a talent for research and keen observation.
And for me, that is perhaps my favorite aspect of this collection, rarely have I read short stories wherein all the characters bear such credible stamps of authenticity. As a result, each story was a surprise, never predictable, and always profound.
December 22, 2018
Your Pick: Selected Stories is an intellectual collection of masterly written, solid and enjoyable stories. The author has a distinctive style of writing, impressing a smooth transition back and forth from intricate to casual story delivery, each commanding the same impactful reaction from the reader. V.S. Kemanis architects the perfect amount of character and scene development, allowing the reader to effortlessly fill in the purposeful blanks. The attunement to inner human emotions is genius and astounding. The stories are unique and once you realize the author has a unique technique of leaving the endings, not as twists in the conventional sense, but as intentional blurs, artistically woven into the last few paragraphs, it leads you wanting to discover the next story and its subsequent inferred ending. This is a refreshing method of leaving the story simmering with the reader, as all great stories should. Simply excellent.
January 8, 2019
Well written stories
Although I prefer lengthy novels, I was quite intrigued by some of the stories. Most of the endings left a big question mark in my mind; but I'm positive that this was intentional by the author - the reader can fantasize themselves on how they want the stories to end. Very well written.
Although I prefer lengthy novels, I was quite intrigued by some of the stories. Most of the endings left a big question mark in my mind; but I'm positive that this was intentional by the author - the reader can fantasize themselves on how they want the stories to end. Very well written.
August 7, 2024
Interesting read
Paints pictures with words - descriptions are so well done, characters so well developed, it's possible that I visualised what the writer had in mind. In how many fields is the writer an expert?! Impressive!
I have to admit, though, that some stories lost me in their over-abstractness.
Paints pictures with words - descriptions are so well done, characters so well developed, it's possible that I visualised what the writer had in mind. In how many fields is the writer an expert?! Impressive!
I have to admit, though, that some stories lost me in their over-abstractness.
December 26, 2018
Nice collection of short stories.
January 16, 2019
Entertaining and thought provoking set of short stories that are quite cryptic.
I enjoyed the selection, different settings, people and origins, all meant to make the reader think.
I enjoyed the selection, different settings, people and origins, all meant to make the reader think.
January 24, 2023
I enjoyed some of this short stories but not others. So I added all the stars together and then averaged them to give my rating.
My thanks to Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.
My thanks to Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.
January 10, 2019
I was gifted a review copy of Your Pick by V.S. Kemanis and it was my first read of her work. My favorite short story was the murder mystery. She writes with great insight into the frailties of humans or rather the range of human frailties. I enjoyed trying to predict how the analogies and rich complex characters would lead to a resolution for the characters and the reader. I look forward to reading her longer full length mystery novels.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews