Tom Hazuka

Gr 8 Up-Robby Fielder is a varsity soccer cocaptain and decent student, but his parents continue to compare him to his football-star older brother and find him lacking. When he and his best friend share a few beers, it doesn't seem like a big deal, but then Jim continues drinking and totals his car, causing his parents to pull him from the team, where his goalie skills are sorely missed. Meanwhile, Robby is attracted to Pet, whose bleached hair, nose ring, and outspokenness make her an object of derision among their classmates. She opens up to him, revealing a dark secret about her past, and he admires her honesty and longs to keep her trust. Robby's teammates begin to question his commitment to the squad, and, indeed, as his relationship with Pet develops, it seems that the team's cohesiveness unravels. Robby is forced to make decisions about where his loyalty really lies: putting the team first will help him to realize his dream of a soccer scholarship, but at what price? Hazuka's first young adult novel realistically depicts one teen's struggle to prepare for the future without compromising the present. There are enough plot twists to keep readers guessing, and soccer fans will appreciate the author's obvious love of the game. While adult figures are fairly two dimensional-the wise teacher, the win-at-all-costs coach-the dialogue and interactions among the teens are spot-on. A solid choice where Chris Crutcher and Mike Lupica have a strong following.-Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.
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Apparently this was the anthology that coined the term 'flash fiction'. Which is defined here as shorter than 'sudden fiction'. The stories included are mostly from the 80's and 90's. There were 3 names I recognized: Margaret Atwood, Joyce Carol Oates, and... drat, some white guy I forget. The rest of the names were unknown to me, but this was a clearly literary anthology and I am not a literary reader. A few of the stories were English translations.I had the notion that I should take some short stories, distill the plot, and rewrite them. I figured the shorter the better for this exercise. So when I searched the library catalog, this is the best option that turned up. I did not do the exercise I had invented for myself. But I did read all the way through this in about a day.Short short stories (as I came to know them, having been first exposed to them from Asimov anthologies) are pretty awesome. Get in, get out. It works particularly well for science fiction idea stories. Which these were not.The first couple of stories were okay. Somewhat interesting. The first one was even sf/f-ish (gasp! don't tell them that!) But then I started to hit some real duds.Why duds? Because I didn't sharding understand them. Did it mean this? Did it mean something else? Does the story mean exactly what it seems to mean and nothing else? Ie, rather trite. Does the story mean what I've guessed it means? I'm not sure. Does the story mean something else entirely and I'm just too dumb to get it? Or does the story not really mean anything at all?I'm not so keen on uncertainty when it comes to stories. I'm fine with 'engaging' with the text and trying to work out what is meant. I just like to know I'm right! Or know that I'm probably not thinking what the author was thinking, and that's okay, because my idea is better.But too many of these stories left me with a sense of 'wha? huh?' and an utter vagueness about the whole thing.Still, there is something about the shortness and the sheer quantity of them that makes my brain start sparking. The problem is, to keep that up, you need more and more and more!… (mehr)