Kevin Wilson drinks Kook-Aid. It’s that simple. His short-story collection Tunneling to the Center of the Earth isn’t your run-of-the-mill literary fiction where obvious lessons are learned and sentences sparkle with words you can’t pronounce. Although there are elements of these planted sporadically, they’re not overbearing and obvious. Mr. Wilson deftly places characters in quirky situations where you are left with the choice to ‘hop on board’ and explore from the first sentence, or head back to the bookstore, get back in line and wait for the $13.99 refund. If you do choose to hang on and follow the characters’ plight in these zany and unfamiliar situations, you’ll be rewarded with an author whose talent lies in scrutinizing the uncertainty that beds itself in the dark depths of the tortured souls inhabiting his world.
“Grand Stand-in” – an older woman rents herself out to families as a grandmother so they don’t have to confront their children with the news of a passing family member.
“Blowing Up on the Spot” – a scrabble factory worker bides his days by searching for the letter Q amongst the factories millions of alphabet tiles. It’s a story of young love and spontaneous combustion!
“The Dead Sister Handbook: A Guide for Sensitive Boys” – An experimental story written in 2nd PPOV. Story unfolds through diary-like entries about ‘things’ that trigger memories of a dead sister.
“Birds in the House” – Four brothers from a broken family gather to do battle over their inheritance. The deceased patriarch left specific instructions on what/how game is to be played. Hint: it involves Origami birds, an oak table, and four giant fans.
“Mortal Kombat” – Two high school nerds (boys) end up hooking up while waiting for the video game Mortal Kombat to be released. Their friendship is as explosive, dynamic, and dangerous as the game itself.
“Tunneling to the Center of the Earth” – Recent college grads gather in the backyard of one of their parents’ house and begin digging a tunnel system that spreads under the city in an attempt to avoid the ‘real-world’.
“The Shooting Man” – After a week of badgering, a guy convinces his girlfriend to watch a man shoot himself in the face at a carnival show. The effect and consequences differ from what he had hoped.
“ The Choir Director Affair (the baby’s teeth)” – The father of a baby born with a perfect row of pearly whites is having an affair with a private school girls’ choir director. Story told in 2nd PPOV where you are the father’s friend and alibi, only to be confronted by the baby’s mother about the father’s whereabouts.
“Go, Fight, Win” – A cheerleader obsessed with building model-cars befriends a younger, troubled boy living across the street. Things turn ‘explosive’ as they discover each other.
“The Museum of Whatnot” – A post-grad finds work as a museum curator where junk is the artistic commodity of choice.
‘Worst-Case Scenario” – A man makes a living evaluating the worst possible scenarios for anyone willing to pay. A discovery happens when providing his findings to a client and the man has a change of heart.
People who are ‘between places’ in their lives populate the stories in this collection. No one person is the same, and most (except the last story) of the situations are doomed from the get-go. But that shouldn’t stop you from reading. Somehow, Mr. Wilson manages to pump breath-after-breath out of these troubled characters that suffocate under the weight of day-to-day living. Not only does he give them hope that something better is just around the next turn, but he manages to reach through the page and shake our heads with a ferocity that matches his prose.
