jeregenest

I just finished Richard Park’s short story collection Worshipping Small Gods. Parks' stories avoid the plot-heavy (usually) and focus more on an exploration of his all-too-human characters, often by using a variety of techniques and styles to write his stories. The opening "Kallisti," is a retelling of the ancient Greek story of the Trojan shepherd Paris where Parks does an admirable job concentrating on a conflict of desires and impulses that both Paris and Eris herself share, successfully turning old conventions of fate and destiny around. This story sold me on this collection immediately. My other favorite stories were Yamabushi, a nice tale about personal redemption; and, Fox Tails, a good story that fits nicely into the occult detective side of things. On the other hand I found the sequence Eli Mothersbaugh rather dull. One would think I’d be naturally predisposed to a government office that deals with laying ghosts to rest, but wile I respected the choice to make these a set of piece on emotions and not the ghostbusting, the stories themselves weren’t that engaging.