Politically Inspired [Paperback]

Stephen Elliott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2003

Politically Inspired, is an anthology of original short fiction inspired by the news and reflects the different sides of the confusing issues surrounding us.

Stephen Elliott felt what he was writing wasn't relevant in a time of war and so he began to write fiction based on the world's current events. He realized other authors were having the same dilemma. He acted upon this and put together this anthology after receiving overwhelming response from his writing peers.

Politically Inspired is all-original, never before published fiction inspired by current events.

Contributors include
Anthony Swofford: Author of Jarhead
David Rees: Author of Get Your War On
Michelle Tea: Author of Valencia and Chelsea Whistle. Winner of the Lambda award for Best Lesbian Fiction.
Elizabeth Tallent: Author of Honey and Museum Pieces. Included twice in the Best American Short Stories anthology.
Tom Barbash: Author of The Last Good Chance and the nonfiction book On Top Of The World, Cantor Fitzgerald And The 9/11 Tragedy
Paul LaFarge: Author of Artist Of The Missing and Hausmann Or The Distinction
Zoe Trope: Author of Don't Kill The Freshman
Kola Boof: Sudanese born author of Long Train to the Redeeming Sin
Etel Adnan: Author of Paris When It's Naked, Cities and Women, and Sitte Marie Rose, which has been translated into over ten languages and is considered a classic of Middle Eastern literature.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Triggered by the post-9/11 changes in the political landscape, this erratic collection of 29 short stories offers new fiction from the likes of Charles Baxter, Anne Ursu, Mark Lee and a host of lesser-known authors from around the world. Edited by writer Stephen Elliott, the anthology begins with Ursu's playfully sardonic "The President's New Clothes." President Bush finds himself trapped in the body of a young Minnesota schoolboy who, despite Dubya's best efforts, can't get anyone to believe that the leader of the free world in Washington, D.C., literally has the mind of a child. Baxter's contribution, "Innocent," is a short dialogue about a man who, in fear of the horror and messiness of "getting involved," flees the scene of a deadly highway accident he has just witnessed-a metaphor for America's attitude toward international conflict and cooperation. Lee's "Memo to Our Journalists" is a short, punchy list of editorial precautions to reporters in Iraq. It includes such pithy advice as "If you and your embedded unit are lost in the countryside and searching for the main road, remember that every adult in the world lies about most things much of the time. Look for a smart, honest nine-year-old." While many of the stories explore such worthwhile topics as the so-called "human shields" in Iraq, efforts to horde Cipro during the anthrax scare and post-apocalyptic sex after 9/11, some of the writing is painfully amateurish. The abundance of inexperienced authors on the roster causes some intriguing conceits to get lost in the shuffle; as an exercise in subversive fiction, this is an interesting if spotty experiment.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

As artists have always held a mirror up to society and contemplated its reflection through their unique creative interpretations, so do the authors contributing to Elliott's anthology examine current political events and cultural mores proliferating in a post-9/11 world. All original and all previously unpublished, the 29 entries come from established authors such as Stewart O'Nan and Charles Baxter, and from emerging new voices such as ZZ Packer and Anne Ursu, and represent a global response that reaches from Africa to Europe, from the Mideast to the Far East. Both inner-city violence and suburban malaise are explored. Schoolboys are forced to wear burqas to experience the oppression of women. A graphic interpretation featuring the Marx Brothers ponders the antiterrorist capabilities of duct tape. Such political ramifications of childhood and culture, desire and destruction, fear and war are acerbically and luminously rendered in literary presentations of startling ingenuity. Royalties from the book's sales will go to support Oxfam America, a privately funded humanitarian agency. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 308 pages
• Publisher: MacAdam/Cage Publishing (October 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931561451
• ISBN-13: 978-1931561457
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,807,827 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read!, October 18, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Politically Inspired (Hardcover)

This book was a pleasent surprise. I couldn't put it down. Some real gems in here as far as short stories go. Check out the stories by Anne Ursu, David Rees, Nasri Hajjaj, and Brian Gage. I don't think there was one story I didn't like, but those authors were my favoirtes. Even the unknown authors wrote fantastic stories. Special mention: Anthony Swofford - a very provocative and funny story.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lit for the Times, October 8, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Politically Inspired (Hardcover)

I was knocked out by this anthology. The editor is a genius for putting it together. It's time for political art now, and I hope this is only the beginning. Favorite stories include Paul LaFarge's brilliant "Lamentation on the Destruction of Ur," Anthony Swofford's "Freedom Oil," and Alicia Erian's "The Winning Side." This is one of the best anthologies I've ever read.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Coolest, Freshest Collection I Have EVER Read!, November 1, 2003

By 

greenparty (Los Angeles, Ca.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Politically Inspired (Hardcover)

Wish I had something to say about a flaw in this book but I can't think of any. I never wrote one of these letters so bare with me.

OK.

Stephen Elliott, the kind of teacher one could only dream about if taking any kind of writing course, has got to be the quintessentail California cool guy and arbiter of great "new millinieum" taste to put together a collection like this. It is bar none, the best fiction anthology I have EVER read. OK, I'm only 31, but I do read a lot of anthologies. This one is original, fast paced, original and every single story I read pulled me in and kept me interested til the end.

Off the bat, I can think of Charles Baxter's "Innocent" and "da bomb" and Brian Gage's Vampire story as being the best ones. There is another one too about this guy that killed his whole family in an Arab country and got celebrated for it. Those ones blew me away. This dude F.S. Yu came pretty hard too, although I was at a party recently and someone whispered in my Orson loving ear that F.S. Yu has a seceret identity. Great story, though. But like I was saying I couldn't get enough of this book. Let me get it.

O.K. got it. I liked everything in here. Ann Urso's story was like a little movie skit, really funny. JOan Wilking pissed me off, but hey, that's what a good story does. Peter Rock rocked. David Rees had me laugh'n but not with some serious thoughts. That's what I like aobut this book, they cut out all the b.s. and just let it roll. The story I read when I want a good laugh over and over again is by Mistress Morgana. She tells you how her day went as a dominitrix and if you go to her web page in real life she's a hot woman, so that made me totally believe her story. A pleasant surprise was to see L.A.'s own Ethiopian fatwa writer Kola Boof in the lineup after listening to her radio appearances last year on KPFK Radio and ABC NEWSRADIO. She wrote a tight story about this black girl singer whose boyfriend was cheating on her and got blown up in the WTC. The cracks on President Bush and Clinton are priceless too. I still don't know what the story was about, but out of the women's stories, hers was the best.

This is a cool book. It's spacey and it expects you to expect the unexpected. As a writing student and over all HAM I hope to someday have my name posted in lights with a group as talented and imagination as the old gang here. Top drawer politics. Sexy. Smart. I give it two thumbs up.

Peace