Customer Reviews

Beautiful Blemish

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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.

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