Short Story lovers discussion

Anyone read this? Thoughts? I'm totally enamored by it having just recently read it in the Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction - 1999 edition The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction: Fifty North American American Stories Since 1970 also in his book which I bought after reading this story. Here We Are in Paradise: Stories. I find this story so completely full of detail, symbol and story it just drops my jaw in awe.

(sorry I had the anthology wrong, correct now)

I will try and read it sometime this week. :)

Cool! Would love to hear what you think!

I'm still astounded by this story...

The Prophet from Jupiter by Tony Earley has got everything but the kitchen sink and that might be in there too. It’s got a submerged town at the bottom of a lake, marital infidelity, a dog named shithead, a disabled boy that wears a coat hanger around his neck to ward off the evil spirits, it’s got dead mules rotting in the sun, dams about to burst and catfish as big as Jesus, political ambitions and of course the prophet and his very satisfied wife who is filled with the spirit of the lord when they make love.
I love this story and my only regret is that I didn’t read it years ago. I’ve read it several times in the past year and it has not lost anything in the re-reading. It’s jam-packed with characters, action, emotion and intrigue all wrapped around a man-made lake and the dam-keeper that tends it and the town built up around it.

I read this in The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction 1999, but it is in his collection Here We Are in Paradise: Stories as well. Find it, read it.

Yep, that's a good one, Kenny. I met Earley this summer, at a writers' workshop. (I wasn't in his workshop, but he is supposed to be a fairly . . . strong-minded workshop teacher.) I think it was in an interview I read that Earley said, of that story, that he in fact poured everything he had into it--that he had always held back in stories before that because he was worried about 'using up' everything he had in mind. But someone (probably one of his own teachers) told him that ideas are inexhaustible; if you are empty, others will rush in to fill the void.

Wasn't this included in one of the Best American Short Stories collection? I think it was 1994.

Yep: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best...

I'll check it out...after I finish the Walter de la Mare stories I am love with....so spooky and lyrical.

Just bought Here We Are In Paradise. Looking forward to it. I discovered Early many years ago, in Story, which was such a fine journal. I still miss it. I believe the title of the story was The Bridge.

Kenny wrote: "I'm still astounded by this story...

The Prophet from Jupiter by Tony Earley has got everything but the kitchen sink and that might be in there too. It’s got a submerged town at the bottom of a la..."

Just read The Prophet of Jupiter, followed by the title story of the collection, Here We Are in Paradise. Didn't care for the former--the story reads like a list and there is too much going on, but I loved the latter. A sweet, sad tale effortlessly told. I admire Earley's striking, unexpected details and his ability to fishtail the past and present.

Thanks Jean. Different strokes eh?

Kenny wrote: "Thanks Jean. Different strokes eh?"

That's what makes these discussions such fun!

Seven years later.... I was delighted to find this discussion. For the past 10 years I've been leading 2 groups in weekly (16 wks/year) meetings to discuss American short stories, and particularly "modern"ones, We will be discussing the P from J tomorrow (7/27/21)
I am eager to hear what the class has to say. There is, of course, 1 person who is a contrarian as well as an astute observer; 9 other people of truly mixed background (from clinical psychologist to international businessman to lawyers and commercial developers) and interest.
They keep asking for stories with a happy ending (ie, not death of a main character). I think this will do the trick.

Excellent! It's a wonderful story!