World Takes

by Timmy Waldron

Timmy Waldron takes readers on a wild ride through American's interior landscape in his debut short story collection World Takes. Waldron's sardonic, quirky wit introduces you to a high school loser literally branded for life, a fiercely dedicated Revolutionary War re-enactor, an offbeat lamo-hipster, and other troubled souls. At once darkly humorous and endearing, the stories in World Takes stay with you long after you close the book.

104 pages, Paperback

First published April 4, 2009

About the author

Timmy Waldron is the associate fiction editor of The Literary Review and the author of the short-story collection STORIES FOR PEOPLE WHO WATCH TV from New Meridian Arts. His stories have been published in various print and online journals since the late ‘90s. His first short-story collection, WORLD TAKES was published by Word Riot Press. Timmy received an MFA from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Reviews

[Regan McGrory · Rating 5 out of 5]

In World Takes: Stories Meant To Amuse, Timmy Waldron creates a world for the reader full of characters that you don't want to let go of. They are so real that you can't help but see yourself in them - and in the case of those of us who grew up with Timmy, I mean that a little more literally than for the rest of the reader-world. From the lovesick to the heartbroken and the rebels everywhere, Timmy captures the spirit of our generation, saying the things we think of but would never say out loud. It is truly hard to believe that this is his first attempt at publishing a short story collection as his work is as seasoned and worked-through as that of a veteran storyteller. From the first page I knew this was no one-time project. Timmy is one talented fella whose work is destined to be around for a s long as he wants it to be.

[Sara Habein · Rating 3 out of 5]

(I'd give it 3.5 stars, were that an option, but...)

Grasping at little bits of happiness wherever they can be found, the characters in Timmy Waldron’s short stories inhabit the space between hope and hopelessness. World Takes is a satisfying, slim collection of tales that are familiar, yet also windows into an unknown universe.

Perhaps Waldron’s greatest strengths are his first sentences. Writing teachers and advice articles always talk about that “hook” one needs to draw in the reader. The hook should not be gimmicky, of course, but enough to make the reader not just want to continue, but feel required to do so.

Overall, amusing in a dark humor sort of way.

(Full review can be found on Glorified Love Letters)

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read a lot of these stories when they were first published in online journals I was reading in 2005-2009 and that led me this collection. Probably would have rated it higher in 2009, when it was fresh. "County Line," though, is still a story that I like to read.

[Monica Haley · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the few short story books I've read. So good it was too short, I wanted more!