Appropriately entitled, Six
Great Short Stories is a unique work encompassing Robert Michael de la
Torre’s wit and wisdom in his creative approach to the ancient art of
storytelling.
He opens with Always
Walking Barefoot, a simple tale of a childish friendship of a young boy,
Ben, ten years old, and a girl, Freida, as they get into mischief in a country
setting, not much unlike a Huckleberry
Finn world. Written in the third
person, with a noticeable lack of any dialogue, the story sets you back in fields
of grass, out by the old train tracks, rolling down bumpy dirt roads, and
facing decisions kids make when adult supervision is, well, out of town on
business. Naive to the dangers that lurk
in the world, Ben and Freida manage to create their own reality by being who
they are – good people not looking to hurt anyone. By being young and innocent, they avoid the
dangers that may have been present. I
believe the message here is that although “bad people” exist, if you are good
to all people in an honest way, most people will be good to you – we all have
many sides to our values and integrity.
Six Great Short
Stories go on with a well developed Captain Lime, a dialogue laced
“Shiver-me-timbers” Pirate story of epic proportions set in the damp days of
1576. Starting with a shipwreck, this
story takes you on an adventure like Johnny Depp did with Pirates of the Caribbean, progressing so quickly that it’s like a Disneyland ride. “Aye, matie, errrr.”
His stories are diverse and imaginative. His style is straightforward, often a bit
repetitive in name articulation of characters instead of using pronouns, but
that’s his “signature.” Each story
starts with a very intriguing lead and builds character development quickly.
Each story has its own voice, and as such is written in a
changed galley text format. The
interesting layout of his work lends itself to enjoying the book, by having
oversized type pitch with varying fonts making it a pleasure to your eyes. Robert
M. de la Torre takes a casual approach towards his presentation, more
reminiscent of personal manuscripts than mass produced literature. I found his work to be original, intriguing
and by all accounts entertaining. His
short story entitled, Jack Sleeps in the
Park, was so kind and loving I sensed the sentiments of the author becoming
revealed. Having a half dozen discrete stories makes this a good book to bring with
you while traveling, or having by your bedside table, being able to pick up,
finish a story and take a break. Although the “next story” is upon you so quickly that you just might
need to postpone your “break” until the end of the book. Bravo
Robert, Six Great Short Stories is
like a half dozen roses. We’re anxiously
awaiting the sequel, “Six More Great Short Stories.”
Buy this book at Amazon.com
