Customer Reviews

Daring Tales of Daring! Tales of Brother Island

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This book contains four short stories all involving in some way North or South Brother Island, two obscure islands in the New York City's East River.

The Fate of Mary Mallon - A bookie in the 1920s discovers there's a huge contract out on his life.

The Great Fart of Meaning - A classic drug story about a young man in the 1970s whose life has been ruined by drug use.

Regolith Sand & Gravel - In 1975 the City of New York sells an island to a private company for $10 and a reporter becomes marked for death for investigating. The sale really happened, the rest is fictitious.

Fire-Proof - A heist story that takes place in flashbacks as a professional thief returns to New York to settle some unfinished business.

Along with the stories are a very funny Introduction and an interview with "True Person of Daring" comedian Will Carlough.

Daring Tales of Daring! Tales of Brother Island is a send up of the infamous dime novels and pulp fiction of the 1890s through the 1930s. The stories revel in satire -- deflating the heavy hand of the genres' conventions with truly hilarious side trips. At the same time they also work as authentic examples of the genres -- actually gripping the reader into caring about the characters and situations. Fast, funny and gripping. I would definitely recommend it. Even if I hadn't written it.

I bought this book thanks to my interest in the islands of New York City. North and South Brother are kind of obscure when compared to Ellis and Liberty Islands, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that a book of fiction with the Brothers as the main characters existed.
The writing isn't Agatha Christie level, but it's a fun read especially if you want to hear some stories about New York City's "mystery islands."