Won’t Be By Your Side

by Allison Renner, Alien Buddha (Contributor)

“The dissolution in these stories is the kind you want to float in for a while, and Renner’s brilliance is that she lets you. Like all great short fiction, Won’t Be By Your Side employs its deep understanding of voice and detail to immerse us in the fabric of its relationships. You’ll feel every ripple here, every fold, every piece of dust suspended just above the surface.”

--Brett Biebel, Author of 48 Blitz "Won’t Be by Your Side is a collection of stories about obligation versus need, love, loss, and how we heal. There are stories from children’s perspectives, and from children who’ve reached adulthood. And almost each one contains fathers, strict fathers, reluctant fathers, fathers who up and leave without warning and those contemplating running, as well as fathers unknown even to themselves. Renner’s firm grasp of tone and style makes each character and their situation feel somehow familiar, universal. Her skilful storytelling will have you devouring each narrative with increasing hunger and speed. From a story told through bullet points that perfectly illustrates the complexities of memory to the comic tale of a proposal and a chicken, the words in this compact and powerful chapbook promise to reveal a truth that brims just beneath the surface.” - Keely O’Shaughnessy, author of The Swell of Seafoam and Baby is a Thing Best Whispered

31 pages, Paperback

Published August 19, 2022

About the author

Allison Renner is a librarian, writer, and photographer who loves to tell stories through different media. She loves exploring the world around her with a camera around her neck and a pen in her hand.

Find her online at www.AllisonRennerWrites.com and www.HowIFeelAboutBooks.com. She's also on the Storygraph as HowIFeelAboutBooks.

Reviews

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I love in fiction (poetry, or nonfiction) is when a moment is isolated so that its importance can be felt by the reader.

Every story in Renner's chapbook features such moments in the form of gestures, from the desire to put hands against a flat stomach to "feel everything I'm not" (Electric Inside) to a clementine handed by a daughter to her father "like a gift"(Lost and Found).

There is much to admire here and I enjoyed it very much.

[Allison Renner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my book, so yes I am biased. But I'd really appreciate you giving it a read. Here, try a story for free: https://rejection-letters.com/2022/04...

[Caleb Tankersley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The endings of Renner's stories leave a devastating wake, a thundering echo that helps the reader envision every character's future. Each stories captures a consequential moment so filled with tension I found myself holding my breath. "Quite desperation" is a phrase often applied to stories but rarely captured so well as in this book. This chapbook is a powerhouse, and I look forward to reading more of Renner's work.

[Josh Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read of various flash fiction stories. As the title suggests, many tales will leave you, coercing your own infill and intrigue. But like tree roots, Renner’s collection ingrains and nourishes deeply. A solid collection.