Headshots: A Short Story Collection

by Idabel Allen

This short story collection is loaded with shotgun blasts that deliver the goods on life in all its pain and glory. Inside, a boy learns how hard it is to be good in post war Mississippi, a father teaches his beloved daughter her place in the world, and an elderly doctor makes the ultimate sacrifice on a dying planet. All this, plus plenty more to keep an avid reader's head engaged.

121 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 23, 2011

About the author

Idabel Allen serves up the best in new home cooked Southern Literature in the tradition of Eudora Welty, Charles Portis, Willam Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor. 

Idabel brings over fifteen years of experience as a professional writer and editor to the literary table. She attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop Fiction program and is the author of Headshots, Cursed! My Devastatingly Brilliant Campaign and Rooted. Idabel's books are available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and independent bookstores across this fine land.

When not burrowing in the written word, Idabel is generally up to no good with her family, dogs and herd of antagonistic cows.

Reviews

[Roya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked all the short stories. All of them are about family hardship, except for the last one which was a little taste of sci-fi. The last story was interesting but needed some work because it didn't really make sense.
Again, Idabel Allen really needs a good editor.
I wish the stories were longer because they all were great starts to good stories!

[Laura Brower · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good short story collection and a lot more worthy and grim than the front cover may have you believe. Another book I stumbled across on Goodreads that turned out to be better than I expected. The stories are all very tragic and sad, often on the theme of how we are shaped by our culture and parents and highlighting how powerless we are at times.

[Raquel Lima · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Headshots! Idabel describes the characters so well that you almost feel like you met them at some point of your life.
Each one of them have their own struggles and they suffer so much that you almost want to go there and help them out and make their life better. Although the incredible darkness of their lives you can still have good laughs with the author's sarcasm and humor, which makes this book brilliant. My favorite story was the last one, about humans living in another planet and struggling with the lack of sun since the the planet changed its own orbit... I could never guess the end of the sory and just feel really really sorry it was only a short story.... It totally deserved a whole book about it!

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are all very good, very realistic and sad portaits of life, situations of hope and hopelessness. Very good studies of society too. Most are about the parent-child relation and how parents carve the life of their children.
The only shortage I can complain about is that this stories don't offer solutions. Maybe there is none, maybe life just goes on like that for the characters. As a reader you want them to overcome their problems, break free from their chains. But this step is not written, you are left to hope that all will get better for them. I so do hope that Mandy is using her ticket!!

[Barbara L. Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although, I enjoyed the short stories

I am not so sure most readers would understand where the author was trying to take them. The 3 chapters of her book at the end did not capture my interest. Editing is another big issue here. A book with so few pages, should not have editing errors. This author has potential. I would give her another try with some changes.

[Darlene Vessell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting short stories that grab your attention from the first paragraph, only complaint is most of them could be full length novels! Quick read but also holds your attention.

[Nikki "The Crazie Betty" V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection and thought the author did a great job of pulling the reader into the minds of their characters and really letting us see what they're thinking and going through. There were 6 short stories and an excerpt from the author's novel, Cursed! but I am only going to be reviewing my couple of favorites here:

Chemical Reaction: This was a great twist of a story about a high school kid whose in the hospital because he accidentally set himself on fire in his chemistry class. Through his internal monologue and his psychiatry sessions we learn more and more about what happened to bring him to the hospital. All I'll say is it's amazing what the human mind can do when it doesn't want to accept realty.

Pushing Through: Although this story was exceptionally depressing given how the MC is being treated by her family, its such a great look into how we view family and self. The MC has an opportunity to leave the people that should love and care for her but only mock and degrade her. The end of the story seems like it is very anti-climatic but really is perfect as a real response to a situation.

All in all this author has a great way of maneuvering around her characters and their emotions and thoughts. I would definitely read other work by Idabel.

[Pop Bop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Southern Cooking, Lightly Seasoned

I like many of the modern reinterpretations of old school southern fried lit, and these short stories are nice tight examples of the style. To my mind they fall to the mild middle of the scale. There is none of the brutal violence of the darkest southern writing, but neither is it all chirpy, mouthy, gimlet eyed little sisters cracking wise about what they saw behind the shed.

There is sadness and fear and a fair amount of plain meanness, but also some hope and, for a few characters, a measure of peace. You probably won't be surprised by how most of these stories play out, but then a predictable, maybe even inevitable, downward arc is part of the style. The characters in these sort of stories almost never have the winning hand or the lucky ticket or the fastest car. If they did, well, they wouldn't be in these stories.

So, a fine selection of solid stories, with some sharp lines and well crafted touches, including a remarkable range of sadness and hurt. That's what the author promised and that's what she delivered.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really, really, enjoyed this collection. The stories are introspective and well written, with deep insight into the human condition. My main criticism is that the stories were far too short, particularly the one about Teeny - which I would love to see as a full-length novel. I'm not sure which story was my favorite, because they were all really well done and kept me hooked. But alas, it is a short read. A very good, but very short read. I will definitely look for more work by this author.

Kelly Hitchcock
Author of The Redheaded Stepchild

[Idabel Allen]

This short story collection is loaded with shotgun blasts that deliver the goods on life in all its pain and glory.

Inside, a boy learns how hard it is to be good in post war Mississippi, a father teaches his beloved daughter her place in the world, and an elderly doctor makes the ultimate sacrifice on a dying planet.

All this, plus plenty more to keep an avid reader’s head engaged.


Pretty much the best batch of short stories I have ever published, if I do say so myself.