Kevin Sampsell likes secrets. In the short story collection Beautiful Blemish, Sampsell dives deep into the human psyche to reveal the layers of secret desire, loneliness and hope buried in our hearts. The stories in Beautiful Blemish display an American voice that mixes humor, experimentation, and unflinching pathos to full effect.
Beautiful Blemish
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Sampsell, editor of The Insomniac Reader and publisher of fringe fiction at "micro-press" Future Tense Books, concocts a diverse, convincing world of romantic perversion governed by impulses at turns whimsical, hilarious and cryptic in a slim collection of very short stories ranging from one to 11 pages. In the title story, an elderly couple engages in bizarre sexual congress involving Magic Markers and extreme dirty talk, only to end their romp on a note of piquant tenderness. In "Gloves," a man collects lost gloves from the street and vainly looks for ways to give them away. In "The Plant," a man casually mourns his "inept nurturing" of the plant in his care and his own frustrated self. Sampsell's prose ranges from taut to indifferent, bearing occasional whiffs of Charles Bukowski and Richard Brautigan, as well as Chris Ware and Dan Clowes, and his stories are full of horniness and wonder, morbid speculation and strange coincidence. For readers with tastes that range outside the mainstream, this is a gem of warmhearted idiosyncrasy and oddball observation. (Apr. 30)
Review
"I'm frightened and thrilled to see what [Kevin Sampsell]'ll do next." --Zoe Trope, author of Please Don't Kill the Freshman
"Let Kevin Sampsell in for one page and he has permanently won you over" --Dan Kennedy, author of Loser Goes First: My Thirty Something Years of Dumb Luck and Minor Humiliation
"I'm frightened and thrilled to see what [Kevin Sampsell]'ll do next." -- Zoe Trope, author of Please Don't Kill the Freshman
"Let Kevin Sampsell in for one page and he has permanently won you over" --Dan Kennedy, author of Loser Goes First: My Thirty Something Years of Dumb Luck and Minor Humiliation
"Let Kevin Sampsell in for one page and he has permanently won you over" --Dan Kennedy, author of Loser Goes First: My Thirty Something Years of Dumb Luck and Minor Humiliation
"I'm frightened and thrilled to see what [Kevin Sampsell]'ll do next." -- Zoe Trope, author of Please Don't Kill the Freshman
"Let Kevin Sampsell in for one page and he has permanently won you over" --Dan Kennedy, author of Loser Goes First: My Thirty Something Years of Dumb Luck and Minor Humiliation
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sampsell finds beauty where others wouldn't bother to look..,
By Scott "Author of Jimmy Stone's Ghost Town" (East Brunswick, NJ, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Beautiful Blemish (Paperback)
Kevin Sampsell is a master of his craft. He makes the minute infinite, and explores the depths of humanity in some of the most touching stories you're likely to find anywhere - small press or major publishing house. Word Riot Press continues their trend of publishing excellents writers who not only have something to say, but know exactly how to say it. BEAUTIFUL BLEMISH is a can't-miss collection of tales spun from a heart that barely knows what it means to stop beating.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
pretty little scary twisted,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Beautiful Blemish (Paperback)
Kevin Sampsell, Beautiful Blemish (Word Riot Press, 2005)Achtung, fans of Lydia Davis: discover Kevin Sampsell, for after perusing Beautiful Blemish, you will hopefully see what it is about Davis' writing that's missing. Sampsell travels many of the same paths, and does so using many of the same vehicles, but there the similarities end. The quality of the writing here is uniformly outstanding, and where Davis' two-dimensional characters simply flounder along (when there are, of course, characters to be found), Sampsell creates rich, detailed people into whom one's teeth gleefully sink, characters who move and experience and, above all, change. It is one of the ironclad rules of fiction writing that in order for a story to have a point, its main character must change in some way; these do. Sampsell's stories are (mostly) short and (always) to the point. Here's a character. Here's an odd situation. Put the two together and see what you get. This is good stuff. Recommended. *** ½
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