Dayenu and Other Stories

by James Sallis

Reflecting as always his deep respect for classic science fiction, fantasy, and crime fiction, DAYENU AND OTHER STORIES collects 22 of Jim's new tales. Bluesmen whose thoughts become real, chatty philosophic spiders, revenant cars, thawed-out hitmen, TVs reporting people to police, a character condemned to life as a sidekick in hack novels--all from the mind that spawned the Lew Griffin novels, Willnot , Sarah Jane , and Drive . Fiction.

190 pages, Paperback

Published November 17, 2021

About the author

James Sallis (born 21 December 1944 in Helena, Arkansas) is an American crime writer, poet and musician, best known for his series of novels featuring the character Lew Griffin and set in New Orleans, and for his 2005 novel Drive, which was adapted into a 2011 film of the same name.

Reviews

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a beautiful and delicious treat. I'd read one story and think, “ok, this one is my favorite,” and then I’d read the next story and think the same again. An absolutely wonderful ride, where the reader will tumble from smiling to feeling a catch in the throat within a single page — just like life.

[Blake C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dayenu and Other Stories is a wonderful collection of short stories that provoke the mind with its weird and intriguing tales. Throughout these twenty two short stories we can catch glimpses of worlds that are similar to our own, but always different enough to make you wonder and sit at the edge of your seat. Fans of popular culture can see similarities to the popular podcast, and now franchise, Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink. We can see this through how both of these works use ideas, topics and themes ranging from supernatural events and alien interference to paranormal situations and unexplained circumstances, but Dayenu and Other Stories uses these in a way that is less in your face and notable then Welcome to Night Vale. As a fan of Fink’s Welcome to Night Vale, I found reading this collection to be even more intriguing as you often have to work out what is truly happening in these stories that Sallis has laid in front of you, instead of barring it all out in full view. One clear example of this in the collection is the work “Season Premier” where it is not until the very end where you see how everything connects. Another example is “Zombie Cars” where a narrative twist at the end makes you rethink the entire short story. Many of these stories are very good, with “Season Premier”, “Sunday Drive”, “Figs” and the titular “Dayenu” as some of my favorites, but there were a few that did end up confusing me or leaving me slightly unsatisfied in their ending, seen in the likes of “Zombie Cars” and “Beautiful Quiet of the Roaring Freeway”. All in all the collection is one I thoroughly enjoyed, with Sallis’ writing being one of the better smaller writers I have read in a long time.

[Guy Salvidge · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Sallis but it took me ages to get through this and to be honest I didn't finish the title novel either. These stories are too clever-clever for my liking. Sallis is still the boss though.