The Sun Is A Billiard Ball [Kindle Edition]

Christopher Meeks (Author)

Book Description

This is a novella (10,500 words) taken from the collection "Months and Seasons." "The Sun is a Billiard Ball" weaves two stories around each other like a good French comedy. The first tells the tale of Albert, a car dealership owner in Santa Monica who finds blood in his stool one morning, and on this particular day, the craziness of his sales staff charge at him full force. Will Albert survive? The second story involves a young man named Wade who has just slept with a woman named Jazz, who he met the night before at a club. He loves her, but a secret she reveals bring them both to Santa Monica. Will they survive?

A literary writer who uses humor, Christopher Meeks is known for his award-winning short story collections that include "The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea" and "Months and Seasons," as well as his novel, "The Brightest Moon of the Century." Carmela Ciuraru in the Los Angeles Times describes Meeks's fiction as relentlessly probing, honoring his characters' lives, "treating them with the dignity and introspection they deserve."

Product Details

• File Size: 129 KB
• Print Length: 31 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: White Whisker Books (March 17, 2010)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B003CYKWT0
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #662,396 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect Short Story Talent July 4, 2011

By Grady Harp HALL OF FAMETOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition

For those readers fortunate enough to have read Christopher Meeks' first short story collection - THE MIDDLE-AGED MAN AND THE SEA - and discovered the idiosyncrasies of Meeks' writing style and content, rest assured that this new collection - MONTHS AND SEASONS - not only will not disappoint, but also it will provide further proof that we have a superior writer of the genre in our presence! Meeks is an observer of the human condition, and that does not mean his view is lopsided or focused on only one realm of characters. True, he does create characters that have strangely vulnerable aspects that alter the way they interact with those around them. But in the end, these are people we pass in the street or sit next to on the bus, or notice in the strange places of Southern California like malls, funky parties - or just 'around' the neighborhood or cities. But his strange creations have just the right amount of 'normalcy' that in our eyes could make them part of the unnoticed woodwork: in Meeks' eyes (and pen) they become extraordinary seeds for terrific stories.

This download offers a perfect example of just how ingenious a writer Meeks is. In 'The Sun is a Billiard Ball' we watch the interaction of two couples' lives: one couple is dealing with the husband's discovery of bloody stools while the other couple is facing the spectre of HIV testing, and the manner in which their lives intersect is one of the examples of the Chaos Theory. It is brief but contains more story than most full novels. That is his gift: terse, succinct, no nonsense gift for grabbing our attention, dallying a bit to infect us and then it is over. Just like that! Grady Harp, July 11

More About the Author

Christopher Meeks was born in Minnesota, earned degrees from the University of Denver and USC, and has lived in Los Angeles since 1977. He's taught English at Santa Monica College, and creative writing at CalArts, UCLA Extension, Art Center College of Design, and USC. His fiction has appeared often in Rosebud magazine as well as other literary journals, and his books have won several awards. His short works have been collected into two volumes, "The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea" and "Months and Seasons," the latter which appeared on the long list for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award. He's had three plays produced, and "Who Lives?: A Drama" is published. His focus is now on longer fiction. His first novel is "The Brightest Moon of the Century," and his second, "Love At Absolute Zero."