Animal Rights and Pornography: Stories (Soft Skull ShortLit) [Paperback]

J. Eric Miller (Author)

Book Description

Series: Soft Skull ShortLit | Publication Date: July 22, 2004

J. Eric Miller grew up in a cabin in the woods of Colorado. That experience of silence, darkness, and depth is evident throughout the stories in this book. Typical is "Invisible Fish," in which a night clerk in a mall pet store tortures the animals at night. Dumbfounded, the storeowners bludgeon to death a chimpanzee, the only animal in the store they imagine is capable of such atrocities. An entry in the new series Soft Skull ShortLit — Pocket Books for a New World, this book deals with the strange and often violent manifestations of desire with an eye to deconstructing and diffusing them. These are edgy short stories that explore the boundless human capacity for cruelty.

Product Details

• Paperback: 90 pages
• Publisher: Soft Skull Press (July 22, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932360336
• ISBN-13: 978-1932360332
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,474,503 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The opening story will blow you away., August 9, 2004

By 

Ted Rankin - See all my reviews

This review is from: Animal Rights and Pornography: Stories (Soft Skull ShortLit) (Paperback)

Animal Rights and Pornography goes to extremes I've rarely seen non-gratuitous fiction go. Linking the idea of animal rights issues and issues that have to do with exploitation in the human flesh trade is an interesting strategy and in J Eric Miller's work feels like a rather rich one. Miller doesn't seem to be so much offering up a mantra about the way things should be but is rather focusing on the way they are so that the stories don't feel like solutions but descriptions of problems. The book should probably come with a warning, because although these stories are literary in nature, the bulk of them are quite hard core; the stories aren't quite as graphic as the work of the Marquis De Sade, but they can be pretty graphic. You've got a variety of rapes (man against man; man against mermaid; women against man); prostitution; incest; and a lot of blood. If you can take it, it's worth the read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars deliciously dark and disturbing, August 8, 2004

By 

Dawn Hanson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Animal Rights and Pornography: Stories (Soft Skull ShortLit) (Paperback)

I bought this book after reading a review of it on subvert.com and I was glad I did. The stories are dark, and many of them are even disturbing, but it feels to me there is also a real heart to this piece as a whole. Though you couldn't call it subtle, I think what the author is trying to do in terms of an overall message is subtly accomplished. But beyond delivering a message, the stories are simply very good reads. Most of them are very short, and almost all of them have sharp edges. But when you finish one, even those that are the most disturbing, you have the urge to read another. I don't think I've ever read anything quite like it. It brought to mind Charles Bukowski and Henry Miller but only by degrees. I was impressed and recommend highly.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tight & Sexy, August 15, 2004

By 

J. Trudeau (Detroit MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Animal Rights and Pornography: Stories (Soft Skull ShortLit) (Paperback)

Perverse. There's a 'Clockwork Orange' sense of forced exposure here, leaving the reader feeling something like a violent loss of innocence upon finishing the book. Poignant and sharp throughout: writing elegant, the voice unassuming and without affectation -- a difficult feat carried off rather marvelously. Dominant to most of the stories is a feeling of helplessness, sexual and otherwise (don't miss "The Space Between Us" or "Mercy Killer II"), and while there is tenderness and a loving touch here as well, they're reserved for the characters of purity -- all animals (in one case, a fur coat).

A unique combination of themes. As soon as I finished reading I started looking for more by this author. Highest recommendation.