Enjoy fast, FREE delivery, exclusive deals and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery

Buy new:

$6.99

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns

FREE delivery Monday, October 16 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35

Select delivery location

In Stock

$$6.99 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Payment

Secure transaction

Payment

Secure transaction

We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more

Ships from

Amazon.com

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Returns

Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

Returns

Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.

Read full return policy

Details

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Other Sellers on Amazon

Added

Not added

$9.09
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: LadyLakeBooks

Image Unavailable

Image not available for
Color:

To view this video download Flash Player

Follow the Author

Caleb J. Ross

Charactered Pieces: stories Paperback – March 25, 2012

by Caleb J. Ross (Author)

4.3 10 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$2.99

—

Paperback

"Please retry"

$6.99

—

Kindle
$0.00 Read with Kindle Unlimited to also enjoy access to over 4 million more titles $2.99 to buy
Paperback
$6.99

2 New from $6.99

{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$6.99","priceAmount":6.99,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"6","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"99","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"LsrT1MWmWHDPn911eNbfXcFtKYJsWFMSrdYsF4ANJ7ueRiDQI89kEV%2F1C6Y4pXVQjEv3OjKCpplj%2BygibocZlOheeJIbatszg99tH5e5DIDbUYN%2BKrmo282JtyBPRcOmbjwNtv4APrwB3bXuxFaxtw%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

With Charactered Pieces, Caleb J. Ross presents a varied world of familial discord, one where a dead fetus evokes more compassion than its mother (“Charactered Pieces”); where two brothers offer the destruction of a family legacy as a birthday gift for their aging father (“My Family’s Rule”); where one brother’s love of Holocaust documentaries pushes his family through the aftermath of his assumed suicide (“The Camp”).Charactered Pieces peels away the superficial armor of public life to reveal the flaws beneath and treats those perceived weaknesses not as hidden sources of pain but as reasons to celebrate life.

Print length

88 pages
Language

English
Publication date

March 25, 2012
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.22 x 8.5 inches
ISBN-10

0615622135
ISBN-13

978-0615622132
See all details

Editorial Reviews

Review

"These stories change you, and not just a little bit. Try to forget them, tell yourself they're not true, but it's no use. Whether you want them to or not, they're going with you."
-- Stephen Graham Jones, author of Don't Fear the Reaper and The Only Good Indians

About the Author

Caleb J. Ross is an author of 7 books and is a lifelong gamer whose fiction and non-fiction have appeared widely, both online and in print. As a hobbyist indie game developer and video game obsessive, Caleb has produced hundreds of visual essays, editorials, and comedy videos on YouTube and has co-hosted many video game podcasts with the goal to evangelize for the video game medium, a medium that has changed his life. Caleb has a BA in English Literature and creative writing from Emporia State University.
Visit his official website at calebjross.com. His official Twitter handle is @calebjross. His official Substack newsletter is calebjross.substack.com.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viscera Irrational (March 25, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 88 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0615622135
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0615622132
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 4.3 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.22 x 8.5 inches

Customer Reviews:
4.3 10 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

Important information

To report an issue with this product, click here.

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Caleb J. Ross

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Caleb J. Ross is an author and a lifelong gamer whose fiction and non-fiction have appeared widely, both online and in print. As a hobbyist indie game developer and video game obsessive, Caleb has produced hundreds of visual essays, editorials, and comedy videos on YouTube and has co-hosted many video game podcasts with the goal to evangelize for the video game medium, a medium that has changed his life.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5

10 global ratings

5 star
4 star
3 star 0% (0%)		0%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Kristine Ong Muslim

on Caleb J. Ross's "Charactered Pieces: stories"

Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2011

The characters in Caleb J Ross's Charactered Pieces are flawed and disfigured in the most unimaginable ways possible. There's Lori who had the "underdeveloped left leg of her fetus-in-fetu sister protruding from her gut." There's the pseudo-prophet, Abel, who drank the blood of a camel. And there's the masterpiece "The Camp," my favorite story in the book, starting ominously with one of the best first lines I've read: "My mother doesn't use hangers anymore."

Caleb J Ross is not only a storyteller; he is also the invisible wildcard in a gym full of people senselessly busting each other's head off. He collects the blood in the towels. He keeps a scorecard of their loss. He realizes that that their wins are not going to last forever. He reminds them again and again. It does not matter if nobody listens.

I want his characters to suffer because they are maladjusted, materialistic, and destructive. But then, I also want them to be happy. These losers, these dredges of social failures, whose wants and excesses are so shamelessly put across -- these dysfunctional characters make me wish for them a safe journey. Maybe, that's what Stephen Graham Jones is talking about on the cover blurb for the book: "These stories change you." Maybe, in ways you don't want to be changed.

Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2010

The stories in Charactered Pieces cover a lot of ground, such as family tension, personal identity, aging, depression, strangers, death...and oh yeah, a fetus-in-fetu. In other words, the hallmarks of good literary fiction.

But wait, there's more. Ross doesn't write dull, self-congratulatory literary fiction. His sentences are lean, stripped of the unnecessary, leaving only words that bring the characters to life.

The characters are wonderfully flawed (as the title suggests), their hopes, joys, fears, and cynicism bubble to the surface between what's said and what's left to the reader's imagination. Whether it's a former demolition worker watching the pillars of the past become forgotten dust or a down-on-his-luck father cleaning up other people's messes in a fast food joint, we feel their pain and frustration and it recalls familiar moments in our own lives. Each character lives in a world that's built by their idiosyncrasies as much as their decisions.

These stories are not so much about overcoming adversity or creating/solving conflict as they are about offering glimpses into other lives, lives that startle and surprise us, but that we ultimately sympathize with. Instead of spoonfeeding morals, Ross does a great job of letting the characters tell the story.

I'm really excited about this new voice in fiction, and I eagerly anticipate his future releases. Thanks to Outsider Writers Press for recognizing this superb talent and publishing the first book of what is sure to be an interesting and successful career.

Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2010

This collection of stories is one of the best I've read in a long time. The short form has always been my preference. I admire when a writer can take us immediately in and then release us in short duration. When it works, it is exhilarating. Caleb J. Ross delivers this.

The stories in Charactered Pieces are dark, sometimes disturbing, and anxious. I found a theme of parental angst stream through many of them. It was enjoyable to spend some time in the mind of Caleb J. Ross, but in the end, it was more personal. I believe a story is successful when you discover something about yourself after reading it. I highly recommend this collection.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Brandon

Wonderful chapbook...

Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2010

Bottom line and up front: Ross has got some serious talent.

That much becomes obvious on the first page and with each successive one. In "Charactered Pieces," Ross plays doctor on the reader, either by tugging on the heart strings or twisting the knife in your gut. Each story has an intended effect, whether it's a nostalic longing or an uncomfortable self-awareness to our flaws, and Ross showcases his ability with succint accuracy and haunting wordplay. These are the kind of stories you think about long after you've read them.

I wait with great anticipation for his next.

Brandon Tietz
-author of "Out of Touch"

Helpful

Stephen Krauska

You Don't Have a Good Reason Not to Buy this Book

Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2010

Ross's work is a shining example of great modern literature. His stories all end powerfully and significantly. It is not possible to walk away from a single story in this book without feeling something a little deeper or a little stronger. He is a master of metaphor and characterization. His stories are believable, surreal and truly heart felt all at once and every technique of fiction is used expertly to make them great. Surely, Ross will provide readers with many great stories for years to come. Pick this up.

Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2010

Writing that moves you is hard to find while wading through the debris of mainstream literature.

Caleb's homespun flavor of modern tragedy will move you--surely as a swan dive into oncoming traffic.

"Charactered Pieces" might be compared to being in a bad relationship: you fall deeper and deeper in love as your heart breaks over and over again. You won't forget these words, even if (for some ungodly reason) you wanted to.

All you really want is more.

Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2010

Much like the scratch-n-dent jewelry of the title story's namesake, these flawed characters make their way through the treacherous literary terrain of Ross's imagination, blasted by sandstorms and demolition crews, derided by their families and coworkers, wracked with guilt, and and seeking redemption in the fleeting margins between their text and your thumb. As seen under the cruel magnification of a loupe, these defects are but facets, however, and Ross's sales pitch emphasizes the sentimental value in knowing their complete selves.

Helpful

Richard Thomas

Fantastic collection of stories

Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2010

There is a great variety of fiction in this collection. The one thing they have in common is the power that resonates, the echo of the stories after you've closed the book. I've read a lot of stories by Ross, and this is a great compilation of his work. He's been widely published online and in a handful of anthologies, but I always enjoy his work. This is a great way to get to know his writing.

Helpful

Amazon Prime includes:

Buy new: $6.99

Other Sellers on Amazon

Follow the Author

Charactered Pieces: stories Paperback – March 25, 2012

Purchase options and add-ons

Editorial Reviews

Review

About the Author

Product details

Videos

Important information

About the author

Caleb J. Ross

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Buy new:

$6.99