Review by Deborah K Frontiera
Edd Tury has been writing short stories for many years, published in several different anthologies, but until now, not collected in one volume. The Boy Who Growled at Thunder has two sections, The Big Woods, and Urban Legends, each reflecting the setting of the stories a reader will experience. “Dark” themes of death, violence, revenge, and suicide, are mixed with bits of humor, plot twists, and rays of hope. Each is carefully crafted with characters who might live down the road from you. If you think the stories are too depressing, remind yourself that life is not full of Fairy Tale Endings, but relationships can be good and caring in spite of unfortunate circumstances.
Tury’s descriptions are filled with the senses to make you experience the scene. Here are some examples. From page 20: “Warming air crept up the slope from the forest floor carrying odors as complex as the texture of the swamp.” And this from page 36:
“The hunter tried to get smaller in his woolens. He was still comfortable. Two layered inches blocked the eager cold. His two-pound internal engine pumped warm fluid to his extremities, swapping sugar for heat, the equilibrium good for a few more hours. The hours passed as the wind sucked hard snow from stone clouds, spinning cold confetti over the slowly waving naked trees. He thought they looked like shinny dancers, arms up, swaying to some prehistoric rhythm.”
And from page 117 as the character drives home from a New Year’s Eve party:
“Snow was falling fast and the roads were already slick. The light cones from the car ended early in the onrush of white flakes. The windshield wipers gathered chunks of ice and slush that refused to lose their grip when the wipers changed direction. Randy turned on the deserted four-lane that led home, noting the lack of fresh tire tracks. People were either in bed or still partying.”
One plot line tells of the relationship of a young man and his grandfather in “Up in Michigan” where the grandfather prepares the youth for what is about to happen. In the midst of coming sadness between the characters, I learned something new about why various kinds of bullets work differently. I could relate well to the old man in “I Just Got Turned Around” not wanting to admit that he’d gotten lost. “Visions of Johanna” had wonderful plot twists and “The Dwarf” was a great piece of fantasy.
I was moved by the title story, “The Boy Who Growled at Thunder,” when the mother of a severely disabled (deaf and blind) child finally accepted him fully, marveling in the boy’s response to thunder. Then “The Engine Plant” recounts a student’s summer job and the way he warmed up friendships between old and young, black and white. I enjoyed reading “Ashes,” a story with no violence at all, with a bird fluffing its feathers in an ash bath.
If you have only a moment or two to enjoy a story, turn directly to “White Ring” and “Bookends” for Flash Fiction at its best. Or find ironic humor in the “Gury’s Guy” character in “Don O’Toole”, as he discovers what his wife is doing while he’s cheating on her! None of the stories take much time to read, so this is a great book to pick up and put down when you have only a little reading time. Or pick it up between novels for a break.
The Boy Who Growled at Thunder
By Edd Tury
ISBN 979-8-218-83440-1, Inkmandoo Publications, 2026, Ret. $15.99
