The Biting Age

Ernest Dempsey
World Audience Inc (2006)
ISBN 1934209023
Reviewed by Joanne Benham for Reader Views (1/07)

I could say this book is a collection of strange short stories, which is true, but it’s more than that.  It’s not so much that the characters are strange; it’s the spin the author gives to them. 

For instance, one of the stories is about a trial.  The defendant is accused of a long list of crimes ranging from violation of personal space to attempted murder.  The defendant counters that the disturbance was caused inadvertently while he was attempting to procure food for his starving family.  As the accusations fly, we learn that the accused is a rat.  Suddenly his valid arguments no longer seem so valid and he is sentenced to death.

A lot of the stories feature animals (other than humans), sometimes waging a battle of wits among different species and sometimes uniting against humans.  A few of the story lines are a cat and a squirrel matching wits to win a home, a group of circus entertainers squabbling amongst themselves over who will take over command of the troupe when the boss dies and a town of vampires. 

And then there are the stories that simply made no sense to me such as “Poetic Justice” a story about an earthquake and its aftermath…I think!

But while the stories are not your typical read, the book is riddled with so many typos and incomprehensible word use, that it annoys you more than entertains you.  Here’s one sentence I’m still puzzling over, ‘The question is started Miloby, the gymnast, soon as the funeral was over, ‘who will succeed Boss?’  He certainly meant to solicit his claim.’  This is a direct quote from the book.

One story I did like was Virtuosa, a story about a doctor that’s only a half-page long, although I think he may have meant Virtuoso.

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