Aliens in the prime of their lives : stories

Finalist for the 2011 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: "Watson's talent is singular, truly awesome; [his stories] are infused with an uncanny beauty."—A. M. HomesIn this, his first collection of stories since his celebrated, award-winning Last Days of the Dog-Men , Brad Watson takes us even deeper into the riotous, appalling, and mournful oddity of human beings. In prose so perfectly pitched as to suggest some celestial harmony, he writes about every kind of domestic discord: unruly or distant children, alienated spouses, domestic abuse, loneliness, death, divorce. In his masterful title novella, a freshly married teenaged couple are visited by an unusual pair of inmates from a nearby insane asylum—and find out exactly how mismatched they really are. With exquisite tenderness, Watson relates the brutality of both nature and human nature. There's no question about it. Brad Watson writes so well—with such an all-seeing, six-dimensional... In this, his first collection of stories since his celebrated, award-winning Last Days of the Dog-Men , Brad Watson relates the brutality of human experience with unique genius and tenderness, delving into the lives of ordinary characters stricken by loneliness, longing, frustration, and the lure of better worlds. In harmonious prose, Watson writes about every kind of domestic discord. In Vacuum, three young brothers make trouble when they call on the seedy neighborhood doctor to cheer up their underappreciated mother. Originally published in The New Yorker , Visitation follows a down-and-out, divorced father as he spends a weekend with his son at a California motel. A husband shoots himself in the foot in The Terrible Argument, letting down not only his wife but his dog as well. In the masterful title novella, a freshly married, disastrously mismatched, and expectant young couple are visited by an unusual pair of inmates from a nearby insane asylum, who just might beor might as well bealiens from another planet. Brad Watson writes with such an all-seeing, six-dimensional view of human hopes and inadequacies that his talent must come from another planet. With wry humor and otherworldly grace, he reminds us how alien we humans really areto each other and to ourselves.

Dark and brilliant tales capturing the strangeness of human (and almost-human) life.

The New York Times - Jacob Silverman

There's a rootless, metaphysically barren quality to Watson's characters, but their anguish cannot be called ennui. It's something less desperate, less urgent, and thereby more tragic, because it is so recognizably common. These people may be able to count their losses—a relationship doomed to perpetual argument; a jilted husband who can confide only in a gossipy old neighbor; sons who have made themselves strange and remote toward their parents—but they rarely wrestle with them, and they encounter the truth of their impoverished lives only in fleeting, painful moments. Yet we readers, conscious of all this, feel their pain more acutely, knowing these characters have made themselves more alone, aliens even to themselves, because they are incapable of honestly appraising their failures.

In this, his first collection of stories since his celebrated, award-winning Last Days of the Dog-Men , Brad Watson takes us even deeper into the riotous, appalling, and mournful oddity of human beings.In prose so perfectly pitched as to suggest some celestial harmony, he writes about every kind of domestic discord: unruly or distant children, alienated spouses, domestic abuse, loneliness, death, divorce. In his masterful title novella, a freshly married teenaged couple are visited by an unusual pair of inmates from a nearby insane asylum--and find out exactly how mismatched they really are.With exquisite tenderness, Watson relates the brutality of both nature and human nature. There's no question about it. Brad Watson writes so well--with such an all-seeing, six-dimensional view of human hopes, inadequacies, and rare grace--that he must be an extraterrestrial. *"Dark and brilliant tales capturing the strangeness of human (and almost-human) life.* *"In this, his first collection of stories since his celebrated, award-winning Last Days of the Dog-Men, Brad Watson takes us even deeper into the riotous, appalling, and mournful oddity of human beings."* ([From the publisher][1].) [1]: http://books.wwnorton.com/books/detail.aspx?ID=5582 Vacuum The Misses Moses Fallen Nellie Are you Mister Lonelee? Terrible argument Water dog God Visitation Ordinary monsters Carl's outside Alamo Plaza Noon Aliens in the prime of their lives. A collection of stories explores every kind of domestic discord: unruly or distant children, alienated spouses, domestic abuse, loneliness, death, and divorce