Source of Lit - Unsaid - Trent England

Trent England - Five Short Stories

I liked these a lot.  I found it interesting that throughout the five stories, I think there's only one specific name used, Katy, and that wasn't the name of one of the main characters - they all go nameless.  The stories all feel like they could be part of something larger, there's a similarity to them, yet they all easily stand alone.  They reminded me a bit of Ohle's Motorman, or Derby's Super Flat Times, (aside from simply the great language) in that they create their own world, and while it's very similar to the world we're a part of, it's just off enough to have me questioning Was this from a century ago?  Is it from some time in the future?

David: England is a young writer, but a lot can be learned from his pages. It's a good observation you make concerning his minimal use of character names. In his batch of stories appearing in Unsaid, I recall only the rarest occasions where he inserts a character's name, and each name for the most part appears only in passing.

It is my guess that England is less concerned with the naming of characters (or the development of plot, for that matter) than he is with exploring the source of his ongoing object. At its unchangeable foundation, England's work is essentially a questioning of authority and the deception it often imparts. The ambiguity of time you experience while reading these stories is perhaps brought about by England's timeless and universal interrogations: Is there a God? Is there a right and wrong? Is torture ever valid? Are there "individuals" in society, or only the greater whole? England is our literary Doubting Thomas. He understands that questions are usually stronger than the answers they appear to seek. 

England's stance is a strong example of the new and lasting approach I mention when asked what I seek for Unsaid. His questions are not new. His stories are not new. But England's way of asking and saying are fresh and far-reaching. It's rare these days to come across a phrase as elegant and strong as England's "featfully hollow" that appears in one of the earliest stories he submitted to Unsaid. If he had sent only that phrase--"featfully hollow"--I would have happily published it as a freestanding submission. It's our great luck that he placed a story around it, and then pushed onward and sent me four more.

Comments

[Brian Kubarycz]

Finally a kid shows up can play the keypad with some bravura.

[Brandon Hobson]

Very nice. Trent England is really good.