Unusual Events A "Short" Story Collection eBook Max Florschutz
Download As PDF : Unusual Events A "Short" Story Collection eBook Max Florschutz 
Alaskan adventures. Haunted Hospitals. Something lurking under the kitchen ... stove?
Nothing is as it first seems in this new collection of ten thrilling tales from author Max Florschutz. Magic intertwines with the ordinary in five new stories set in the Unusual universe, while in the world of Indrim steam and high fantasy intersect. Elsewhere, men struggle against the elements in the last frontier, a reporter delves deep into the mysteries surrounding her city's heroic figure, and a young man heads off to war for his people.
Ten fantastic tales of wonder and excitement. It's nothing ordinary.
It's Unusual Events.
515 pages.
Stories included in this collection
The Unusual Universe—
Flash Point Life is tricky when you're a high school student. Doubly so when magic may be involved.
Monthly Retreat Life changing events follow Alma in the wake of her trip to South America.
Kitchen Creature Something's lurking under the kitchen ... Stove? Two college students square off against their new, Unusual, occupant.
The Graveyard Come to Hawaii, take a break, tour the graveyards?
A Miner Haunting In light of Jacob Rocke's latest adventure, he ends up in a hospital, sharing a room with a very unexpected—and dead—individual.
The World of Indrim—
Ripper Wrapped in the steam-fueled mists of the Empire's capital city, a serial killer moves against her next target.
Stories about Alaska—
Vacation Come see Alaska! Get up close and personal with its myriad wildlife. Very close.
Workday A young teen is dropped blind into a new summer job as a deckhand on a halibut boat.
Other Stories—
SUPER MODEL A young woman struggles to be the first to land an exclusive interview with her city's reclusive superhero.
For Glory The Lamanite nation marches to war, and Mathoni with it. But the glories of war are not always what we are promised ...
Unusual Events A "Short" Story Collection eBook Max Florschutz
Will you like every story in this collection? Probably not. However, I found one story that was worth the price on its own and enjoyed quite a number of others. So you should get this and see which stories you like best!Product details
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Unusual Events A "Short" Story Collection eBook Max Florschutz Reviews
UNUSUAL EVENTS A “Short” Story Collection By Max Florschutz
O, please! Do I have to say the same thing every single time I review a collection of short fiction? I love reading it; I hate reviewing it. It's almost impossible to review short fiction without giving spoiler alerts every other line. I do love the format, though, and Max does a good job of it.
He posits a world in which magical events take place as a function of special skills which are only found in a certain few people. Although they do encounter varying degrees of conflict with individuals, they are recognized as a legitimate minority, and given certain rights and privileges under the law. The first stories in this collection are a part of that universe.
" Flash Point" describes the transition that high school student Mark experiences when he discovers that he can set things on fire with his mind. Mark is already an outcast at his high school, because he is new, a member of a small religious denomination, and because he won't give in. Read this, then read "Tuesdays with Molakesh the Destroyer", and then you'll have a pretty good idea of the perspectives that Stephen King missed when he wrote "Carrie".
"Monthly Retreat" tells what happened when a soccer mom becomes a werewolf and doesn't like it.
"Kitchen Creature" lives under the stove, and does the only cleaning that goes on in the apartment of two college slobs; and it's a funny story, too.
"The Graveyard" is a short horror story which relies on a gimmick, therefore anything I would say about it would be a spoiler.
" A Miner Haunting" is an excellent stand-alone short story which was cut out of the novel " Dead Silver." It's a very nicely done story of about telling a ghost that it's time to move on.
The rest of the stories in the book are not set in this universe; two are even Alaska stories.
" Ripper" is a nasty little story about a nasty little person guaranteed to give you the creeps.
"Vacation" and "Workday" took me immediately back to La Vaughn Vanderburg-Kemnow's "Alaska Bush Mother," which I reviewed about a month ago. "Workday" also reminded me of Dave Freer's coming of age stories.
I just flat loved "Supermodel," because it seems to be the very best explanation of superhero stories and superhero fan stories. Did you ever wonder why Superman didn't just go smash the enemies of America? This story explains all that.
The last story in the book, "For Glory," aggravated me a bit. It's not that there's anything wrong with the story itself, it's just that I don't share the cultural heritage that the story is based on, but I ALMOST do. I'm aware of the body of literature that is founded in and arises out of the Book of Mormon, but as a gentile, I never studied it. It's a great adventure story; but as I was reading it, I kept having the feeling that it was ALMOST resonating with me, but I just didn't have the foundation. I have a request, which I hope anyone reading this review will respond to for those of you who DO have the foundation, are you cheering at the actions of the characters? Please comment!
When Max asked me to review his short story collection, I was faced with a conundrum. I’d never really figured out how to handle things like this, and I mostly avoid them as a result. I could either read each story separately as its own review or make one big review, and there were plenty of pros and cons to each.
In the end, I chose to review each story. I did my best to avoid spoilers while giving each story a bit of spotlight and judgment on its own merits. So, let’s see what Max’s foray into short story compendiums is like, shall we?
Flash Point
There’s something subtly comical about a guy named Adam who goes by the nickname A.D. – for “After Death” – bullying someone else because they’re Christian. That’s got to be intentional on the author’s part, and it amuses me to no end.
Mark is having a rough time. He’s just moved to a new town and there’s no soccer team. Worse, every single kid at his new high school bullies him relentlessly because of his newness and his faith in God. And to complete the package, he’s begun getting strange symptoms that his doctor can’t explain. Mark needs to figure out what’s wrong with him, but the answer he finally comes to doesn’t make him feel any better.
For a story set in Max’s ‘Unusuals’ universe, it wasn’t anything at all like I anticipated. People who in today’s political climate are regularly written as the heroes are the villains here, and vice versa. It’s a refreshing change of pace, even if it takes the opposite viewpoint to its furthest extremes. I guess slander is fair play on both sides of the aisle, right? I hypothesize that this either shows Max's political affiliation or shows an impressive ability to look at things from the opposing side, something few people could even imagine, much less write believably. I hypothetically hypothesize he’s not political at all and just wanted to try doing things a little different from everyone else, which is still laudable.
When you strip away all the unexpected elements and look at the base of the story, you’re still getting something worth your while. Flash Point is all about coming to terms with who we are and accepting our uniqueness – or perhaps I should say our ‘unusualness’. It’s a comforting story for everyone who feels out of place or alone against the world, a reminder that no matter how bad things may seem there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. It’s also about personal responsibility and setting limits.
But mostly, it’s about being comfortable in our lives.
It’s an appealing life lesson crafted in a very different setting. All in all, I can’t help but to approve.
Monthly Retreat
Max wasn’t trying to hide it, but I’m still pleased with myself that I had it figured out by the time the business card first came up. Then again, I didn’t have it completely figured out. Say, 99%. There was that little twist at the end, after all.
Alma is a working mother who has, for the most part, a very normal life. But something changed recently, and it’s thrown her entire life for a loop. In the meantime, she’s got to deal with revealing the facts to her husband, keeping control of her new abilities, and facing a school system so progressive it’s actually moving backwards (or so it seems at first). Good thing she has a friend like Jane to help her figure things out.
As with all of the Unusual stories, Monthly Retreat is set in a world that appears perfectly normal in every way, but accentuates that normalcy with a dash of the fantastic. It was while reading this story that I finally realized what I like most about the Unusual universe Max is utilizing mild fantasy tweaks to help relate real world issues. It’s subtle, it can be fun, and it’s always competently done. In this case, the theme is adapting to and embracing change.
Sorry, Max, it’s not my favorite. But it does resonate well and achieve exactly what you set out to do, and as such it still rates pretty high. I think just about anyone can relate to what Alma is going through as she juggles real world issues alongside her new additions. Monthly Retreat is an excellent part to an already good lineup of stories.
Kitchen Creature
Jose and Nick are two college guys with a curious new roommate. They can’t see it, can’t catch it. All they know is that it lives under their stove eating whatever stray crumbs of food happen to land within reach of its (presumed) tongue. Jose is determined to figure out what it is. Nick just wants to keep feeding it and calls it Trill.
This is one of those ‘spur of the moment’ stories all writers feel the need to do at times. It’s silly, and that’s all it needs to be. It also provides a little extra information regarding the workings of Max’s Unusuals universe, so bonus points there. And the ending? Yeah, I cracked up. Some people will call me evil and want to put Max on a P.E.T.A. watch list, but I don’t care.
As far as I’m concerned, Trill should be registered as a tool for pest control.
The Graveyard
This extra special story gets credit as the oldest of the collection, predating even the conception of the others and arguably marking the beginning of Max’s writing career on the whole. It is short, odd and, thanks to both, sweet. It’s about an unnamed paranormal investigator whose favorite vacation spot is, of all things, a graveyard in Hawaii. Why Hawaii? Because everything’s groovy in Hawaii. Even the dead.
This is a fun little piece full of wit and quirkiness. It’s neither an amazing piece of literature nor a crummy school project, and that’s fine. I enjoyed it for what it was, and am even interested in seeing the continuation of the main character’s story.
Maybe later. Still, an endearing little tale.
A Miner Haunting
Look at that name. Shame on you, Max. *Is certainly not grinning at the pun, honest!*
Jacob Rocke is apparently one of Max’s more popular characters, and may be the most recurring in his “Unusuals” universe. A Miner Haunting is set at the same time as the story Dead Silver, during a period where Jacob is confined to a hospital bed after having been roughed up by some seedy characters. Being bored and knowing the hospital is haunted by a harmless spirit, he decides to use the time to help the lost soul move on.
This story strikes me as being a plot bunny that Max wisely let roam free for a time. He could have put it directly in Dead Silver, like so many authors do when they have a tangent idea, but instead he left it out and made it into something separate at a later date. That was a good call, considering A Miner Haunting would have added nothing at all to Dead Silver. For that smart decision, I applaud the author.
Alas, compared to all the other stories I’ve read so far (and bear in mind I did not write these reviews in the order they appear here), this one seemed to have the least… ‘purpose.’ It’s a side story, created for the author’s entertainment and to satiate the fans of the main character. I don’t have a problem with this. Lord knows I’ve had a personal project or two in my time (heck, I’m working on one right now). But it does come with the caveat that the story doesn’t have anything memorable about it. It’s a “convince the ghost to move on” story, and those are all largely the same.
What is interesting from a technical perspective is something I noticed about the dialogue between Jim and Jacob. There is a long period where the two are firing dialogue back and forth at one another. These moments are defined by the author’s apparent assumption that the readers can grasp the emotional state of the characters entirely on their own, because Max often doesn’t bother to give us any clues as to speaking inflections or physical reactions. Getting Jim’s reactions was a bit easier given the context, but Jacob? He might as well have been a robot droning for all we could tell about his mood.
Is that something unique to this story? I’m not sure. It could be that it’s been in all the stories so far and I only just caught it. Now that I’ve noticed, though, I aim to keep an eye out.
A Miner Haunting isn’t a bad story by any means, but neither is it a particular interesting one. Read it. Moving on.
Ripper
Set in a new fantasy world that Max has promised to expand at a later date, Ripper stars the titular character, one Lady Amacitia Varay. Lady Varay hates men in every conceivable way a woman can hate men, and has taken it to such extremes that she’s become a serial killer/guardian of the innocent. Today she’s after one Jaceb, a young noble/lech who is courting/brainwashing an innocent young woman with intent to marry her/rob her of her innocence. But this is one murder/liberation that isn’t quite what it seems…
As a big fan of dark stories, I enjoyed this one. We get to watch as Lady Varay plots and schemes with an eye for detail and obsession with her world view. At the same time, it’s a very curious choice as an introduction to this new universe. Is the author trying to hint at the nature of all stories that will be taking place in this world, or is the tone coincidental? Either way, I’m curious as to where he’s going with this.
But as interesting as the story is, I suspect Max’s primary goal here was to get people interested in the worldbuilding. Social structures, technological setting, culture, all are put on quiet display. There’s a little bit of force to this, as Max does bother to relate to us information that Lady Varay would have known instinctively as a native (the message tubes are a prime example), but for the most part the information is competently conveyed. Minimal explaining, lots of demonstration, and thoughts and dialogue to help us out otherwise.
But it’s only a glimpse, a foggy window into a greater world. That is as it should be given the story’s scope. I imagine the entire point of this narrow view is to leave the reader hungry for more. It’s a story with a very limited view, a simple premise, and not much complexity in the plot. Which is fine, because in the end it’s more about showing us Max’s fun new playground/fantasy setting.
But I will say this if Lady Varay isn’t a major character/the main character in whatever’s coming next, I’ll be disappointed.
Vacation
Mike is an Alaskan wilderness guide. His client this weekend is Dave, from California. Green, not used to the outdoors, but not a bad fellow. Mike was happy to take his money and show him the ropes of living in the middle of nowhere.
Neither of them expected a bear to crash the party.
Now stuck up a tree and watching as the visitor has fun with their camp, they do the only thing available to them talk.
I was grinning like a madman when this story started, because no matter how you square it, the opening premise is amusing. I’ve been on those wilderness camping trips and they are a lot of fun, but nothing quite so memorable as that happened.
At any rate, this is a story that maintains a consistently endearing quality with the setting while two men from very different lives discuss just what brought them to this moment. Technically, this is a story about recognizing one’s faults and, perhaps, escaping their comfort zone. More interesting to me? It’s a story that demonstrates how a well-polished set can make a scene all the more memorable. The story itself isn’t unusual, but with that setting it’s hard not to enjoy.
Kudos to you, Max. I really liked this one.
Workday
Meet Casey. Typical teen. Terrible taste in music. Wants to spend time with his friends, get some lazy job at the local mall for summer, and just let life drift by. Too bad his parents have decided he needs to learn some responsibility, the arch-nemesis of all youths that ever lived. So they set him up with a special job halibut fishing in Alaska (or the “most remote place in the world”, as Casey so dramatically refers to it).
I was smiling from beginning to end. This was a great story about a kid learning that in the real world, people expect you to work for a living. To his immense credit, he handles it a lot better than most kids his age and generation probably would. It was still fun to listen to him whine (if only internally) about the captain’s taste in music, freezing his butt off in cold storage, or the fact that the bait bleeds.
Frankly, I dunno that I could have cut it. My idea of a hardnosed summer job was landscaping cemeteries in 100°F Louisiana heat with humidity so high you might as well be swimming. That cold stuff is for the birds. But being out on the ocean? Hey, I would have loved a job that let me be out there. Being on the open water is awesome.
At any rate, I enjoyed this story, partially for the nostalgia of fishing, but also for watching someone growing up and remembering when I used to be that snot-nosed kid. Stories like this remind me that we all need to do something hard in our lives to teach us about the rewards of productivity. How much do you want to bet Casey will be coming back next summer after he sees his paycheck at the end of a mere two weeks?
This one is an eye-opening showcase of just what Alaskan fishermen have to go through to earn their paycheck, and is also a fun look at a kid dragged kicking and screaming (at least internally) into something that might actually be good for him. Maybe not the most original story, but no less relatable and amusing for it.
SUPERMODEL
Samantha has a thing for superheroes. Ever since she was a child and saw the Wanderer’s first appearance in her city, she was enamored with everything about him. And as she grows older, her life goals shift around him she will be the first investigative reporter to get a successful interview with Wanderer. The only catch? Nobody can figure out how to find him. But Samantha is nothing if not determined, and so she begins her lifelong journey to learn the secrets of her hometown superhero.
By his own admission, this is Max’s first (and only?) attempt at writing a story involving superheroes. The great thing about it is that he approaches this conventional topic from an unconventional direction, keeping all our attention devoted to the intrepid fan reporter rather than the hero himself. It ends up being a story about the way we build up dreams and, ultimately, what happens when we finally achieve them – for better or for worse.
The longest story in this compendium, SUPERMODEL takes its precious time getting to the climax, but makes up for the length by keeping us perpetually chasing a mystery. Samantha’s nonstop investigation and life story never cease to be interesting. The author flexes his emotional chops, somehow managing to get us just as excited, nervous and annoyed as Samantha is. The result is a riveting story from beginning to end.
And while the story ends where most would expect it to, it still maintains an interesting lesson in all the fantasy nonsense. It calls into question exactly why so many look to fictional heroes, and what their purpose is to us in our daily lives. It asks what we would do if we ever got the chance to meet our beloved heroes, and whether the meeting would even be half as great as we wish. It asks these questions and more, and for the most part does so without the actual questions being brought up.
SUPERMODEL is a fun little ride, and I can see why the author is so fond of it. It is most certainly a great inclusion in an already stellar literary showcase.
For Glory
Methoni thought he’d joined the war for the glory of his people, the Lamanites. But the more he watches, the more he hears, the less he feels what is happening is right. As his army marches through the dense jungles, he finds himself questioning everything he was raised to believe.
This is a complicated tale covering a range of topics, loyalty, faith, and morality chief among them. Methoni’s story is unquestionably interesting, if not exactly new ground for a war story. What is fresh is the setting, set in a time forgotten but most certainly real. For Glory is a piece of fiction set in a time and place not commonly addressed in modern literature, which gives the entirety of it a fantastical feel of make believe despite being rooted heavily in real-world history.
Some of the details can get confusing, especially when Methoni has the conversation with a prisoner. Alas, this was not something Florschutz could avoid if he wanted to maintain historical accuracy, so it can be forgiven. But for the uninitiated (i.e. most everyone), it can be tough to follow.
Ignoring that, this is a fantastic story about facing reality, seeking truths and making one’s own choices. I can see why the author is proud of it.
Final Thoughts
So, that’s it. I must say, this was a nice collection. I enjoyed all the stories to some degree, and particularly enjoyed the worldbuilding experiences. Out of all of these, I think I’d have to peg SUPERMODEL as my favorite, with Workday a close second. But every story brought something worthwhile to the table, rounding out an excellent collection. As always, I look forward to more.
I liked it a lot. Looking forward to reading more by Florschutz!
An entertaining collection of not-so-short stories! Supermodel in particular is fantastic, but others such as Monthly Retreat are well worth your time, too! I heartily recommend this if you like sci-fi and fantasy.
From short stories to longer ones, this book is full of great tales. I loved the variety. Definitely look forward to more from some of the universes in here.
Very fun story collection! I particularly enjoyed "Kitchen Creature" and it's absurd humor, and the Indrim universe setup. Looking forward to seeing some continuations there in the future.
Will you like every story in this collection? Probably not. However, I found one story that was worth the price on its own and enjoyed quite a number of others. So you should get this and see which stories you like best!
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