Other Minds and Other Stories -- Bennett Sims, Paperback

* An ABA "December 2023 Indie Next List" pick.

From the award-winning author of A Questionable Shape and White Dialogues, a brilliant, anxious, and hilarious new collection.

A man lends his phone to a stranger in the mall, setting off an uncanny series of Unknown calls that come to haunt his relationship with jealousy and dread. A well-meaning locavore tries to butcher his backyard chickens humanely, only to find himself absorbed into the absurd violence of the pecking order. A student applying for a philosophy fellowship struggles to project himself into the thoughts of his hypothetical judges, becoming increasingly possessed and overpowered by the problem of other minds. And in "The Postcard," a private detective is hired to investigate a posthumous message that a widower has seemingly received from his dead wife, leading him into a foggy landscape of lost memories, shifting identities, and strange doublings.
Cerebral and eerie, captivating and profound, these twelve stories expertly guide us through the paranoia and obsession of everyday horrors, not least the horrors of overthinking what other people might be thinking. With all of Sims's trademark virtuosity, innovation, and wit, Other Minds and Other Stories continues to expand the possibilities of contemporary fiction.

Author: Bennett Sims
Publisher: Two Dollar Radio
Published: 11/14/2023
Pages: 202
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.50lbs
Size: 7.50h x 5.75w x 0.50d
ISBN: 9781953387356

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 09/04/2023
Kirkus Reviews 11/01/2023