Author David S. Grant's Work Might Shock You

As a book reviewer, I get the opportunity to read numerous titles a year in various genres. Some books make bigger impressions than others and the hope is that you get the chance to read more good books than books you wouldn't even recommend to your dog.

When I reviewed David S. Grant's new short story collection, Emotionless Souls, I had to admit I had never read anything like it before. I had never even heard of trangression fiction prior to reading Emotionless Souls and now I feel like I've been living in a cave. I asked David a bit about the shock value of his books and how they relate to real life. Here's what he had to say:

Can we really be shocked? The Politicians and news of today provide current events full of shock value with murder, cover-ups, sex, and theft (and that´s only covering the Politicians). Movies and theatre today also provide more turn your head moments than ever before. Despite all of this, there is still something about shock in fiction that separates from the before mentioned. In fiction, you provide the visual and depending on the scene, you may take the reader to the darkest of places. That uncomfortable place no one wants to talk about.

Emotionless Souls, my new short story collection, provides a plethora of stories to challenge the reader, to go, or not go to that dark place. The story Money Shot is like many short stories, a young man with a dream. The difference here is that the dream is to become a famous porn star by murdering co-stars and creating a legendary sexual position. The story ends with the main character pulling a gun from the most unpredictable of places, and killing himself. Leaving a legendary mark in the adult movie industry, just like every boy dreams.

Other stories like Gag, Open Door Policy, and Slam Dunk use the corporate arena as a backdrop for something else that is happening. The cubicle world is very real to the reader. The drugs and corruption are there as well, but if you are not part of the culture you would never know it. These stories are for the person who can relate, the curious, and for pure escape to that deep place we rarely let our thoughts wander off to. We all have our limits, our own edge. Just happens that some edges are higher off the ground than others. Transgression fiction allows the audience to push their thoughts as close to the edge as possible. How do you know if you are stable if you never look over the side?

At an office holiday party, the story White Christmas follows Hansel as he negotiates though a crowd of coworkers; looking for something he has lost. On his way across the room Hansel is forced to mingle with many of the people in our daily lives having the same moronic conversations we dread each day. The difference here is that Hansel is looking for more than conversation, it´s the cocaine he suspects one of his associates has stolen. Next office party, notice the guy nervously walking through the crowd; the person with a suspicious look in his eyes. His name is Hansel.

In Bleach and Blackout, my double novel the distressing feeling isn´t in the situations, but rather the soulless characters. Bleach is very real, in that pretty much any one of the scenes could happen, the horror is that they all happen. Jeremy heads home for the holidays to find his friends are all still the same and quickly he falls back into the routine of drinking and BYOH (bring your own heroin) parties. Reliving past New Year´s Eve parties with conference calls back to the office as the story leads up to the mother of all cross-dressing parties. Blackout, the sequel, starts off in Las Vegas at break neck speed, then moves to Los Angeles the next morning where the main character wakes with the worst hangover, a gun stuck in his mouth. Again, individually there is nothing unbelievable, but think about that one hangover you had back in college and take a deep breath, because you only woke up with a headache.

You can purchase Emotionless Souls at Amazon.com