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The Acorn Stories: Written 1988-1998 [Paperback]

Duane Simolke (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
Price: £8.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Book Description

Publication Date: 19 Dec 1998
Visit the West Texas town of Acorn! Enjoy the German festival, a high school football game, homemade apple pie from the Turner Street Café, and the cool shade of a hundred-year-old oak tree. Meet dedicated teachers, unusual artists, shrewd business owners, closeted gays, and concerned neighbors. See how lives become intertwined in moments of humor or tragedy. Just be careful, because in Acorn, the sky is always falling!

From romantic comedy to razor-sharp satire to moments of quiet reflection, Duane Simolke's award-winning tales transform a fictional West Texas town into a tapestry of human experiences.

"A well-crafted collection of short stories."
--L. L. Lee, author of Taxing Tallula

"It was a real pleasure to read about the fictional town of Acorn, Texas, and get to meet all the different and varied people that Mr. Simolke so eloquently fleshed out."
--Mark Kendrick, author of Desert Sons

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product details

  • Paperback: 176 pages
  • Publisher: iUniverse.com (19 Dec 1998)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1583481052
  • ISBN-13: 978-1583481059
  • Product Dimensions: 22.7 x 15 x 1.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 6,490,974 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Duane Simolke
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Review

A well-crafted collection of short stories. -- L. L. Lee, author of Taxing Tallula

It was a real pleasure to read about the fictional town of Acorn, Texas. -- Mark Kendrick, author of Desert Sons --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the Author

The individual works in The Acorn Stories.
In the West Texas town of Acorn, the sky is always falling! Details about the stories follow.

"Acorn": When we arrive at the fictional West Texas town of Acorn, the narrative keeps shifting between Regina and Dirk, who both seek control over their relationship. "Flip, Turn": A different scene from the narrator's amusing but unproductive life comes to him every time he turns to swim in the opposite direction. "Keeping A Secret": A little boy wants to shield his mother and his little brother from a dangerous situation. "Survival": A young teacher clashes with his school's emphasis of uniformity over diversity and sports over academics. "Paying The Rent": In this politically incorrect tale, an inarticulate young man hopes to marry a rich woman so he can pay the rent, but he finds her repulsive. "Morgana Le Fay": A widow finds her new romance disrupted by her Siamese cat's strange behavior. "Your Daughter": Gretchen's approach to raising a daughter and maintaining a marriage requires ignoring problems and carefully orchestrating conversations. "Knock": A father sees his daughter abandon her Mexican heritage, and he now fears other types of abandonment. "Come With Me": The conflictive influence of her overbearing sister and her supportive husband forces Becky to re-evaluate her ambitions. "Dead Enough": Farcical look at English departments, tabloid TV, the publishing industry, and America's superstar culture. "Mae": Standing by her husband's grave, an elderly woman looks back at the joys and challenges of marriage and motherhood. "Timothy Fast": In this satirical retelling of the Faustian myth, a Jewish businessman finds himself pulled into small-town politics. "Mirrors: A Blackmail Letter": The owner of an art gallery becomes the target of a "family values" witch-hunt, spear-headed by Acorn's closeted ("ex-gay") mayor. "Echoes": A time of unexpected changes for Becky and her husband. "Oak": Julie Briggs can only talk to her mother by leaving messages on her answering machine, but she refuses to give up her voice. "Acorn Pie": An unusual weekend in the life of an unusual town.

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Customer Reviews

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4.7 out of 5 stars
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Clever expose' of hyprocrisy and pretense. 16 Sep 2000
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This book pokes fun at people who want to "cure" homosexuals or generally control what people think or do. It also has some touching characters and situations. The spoofs of the music business and the publishing business are silly and funny. It's an enjoyable read!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Tender and lyrical stories 4 May 1999
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
After reading the first three chapters of "The Acorn Stories" , I knew that I wanted to purchase Simolke's book. I live in West Texas, the setting for this collection of fiction. On the Texas plains, any nuance in the landscape calls attention to itself, and Simolke's writing is rich with nuance: simple gestures, like the movements of hands or the flips and turns of a swimmer, can shape a story. The prose is spare and lyrical. Simolke treats his characters and their situations with genuine tenderness. I give "The Acorn Stories" five stars on the basis of its first twenty-five pages, and I look forward to sitting down with this book and enjoying the next two hundred pages.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars I highly recommend this book! 6 Aug 2001
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
How interesting is the fictitious small Texas town of Acorn, population 21,001?

Each of the 16 short stories that make up this wonderful book kept me coming back for more. "The Acorn Stories" focuses on the problems and challenges that face some of its colorful inhabitants. All of the characters are well-developed. Their personalities and actions bringing Acorn to life. The author cleverly links the stories together, making the book feel in some ways more like a novel. While there are numerous characters presented in the book, the author was careful not to overdo it as others have...

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