Review: A Not Good Teacher: A Short Story by CS DeWildt

The sexting and the coke were already a problem before he got caught by Betty when she came home with the kids. The drugs on the coffee table and the messages on the phone were dead giveaways even if Betty had not noticed his glassy eyes. She noticed and she was not happy. He could explain it all, but that would definitely make things worse, so he didn’t try to stop her from taking the boys and leaving.

Thanks to his principal, he has a plan to fix everything. A great plan. Quite possibly the best plan ever. He just needs to get some stuff, including some more coke, and get a little help from a friend or two.

If you have read any of the short fiction penned by author C. S. DeWildt, you know things tend to go very dark quickly. Such is the case here with A Not Good Teacher: A Short Story. Every step he takes, every move he makes, just makes things worse. Some of that is funny, but overall this is a dark tale of futility. The only real question is just how bad things will ultimately get in this noir style tale. 

A Not Good Teacher: A Short Story

CS DeWildt

http://www.csdewildt.com

Ugly Dad Books

https://uglydadbooks.com  

August 2018

ASIN#: B07GV41YVM

eBook only

28 Pages

$0.99

Material was picked up back in August to read and review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2018

Review: Corbin’s Dreams Take Flight: A Short Story by CS DeWildt

If you have read any of author CS DeWildt’s work, you know that there will be dark times and maybe some humor.  No humor is present all in his short story, Corbin’s Dreams Take Flight: A Short Story. There is plenty of darkness and pain.

Corbin Rutherford Scaggs broke his wrist when he fell of the roof of the single wide trailer he shared with his mom and his older brother, Tommy. That break resulted in five pins and a titanium plate by way of a surgeon who also wrote him a script for Percocet. His brother took off again and this time took Corbin’s pain meds.  If he had just left a few days earlier, Corbin never would have been on the roof in the first place and therefore the fall would never have happened.  He waited a month before moving into Tommy’s old bedroom.

Part of that move requires Corbin washing the sheets for the bed. That process is interrupted by Janie Myers inviting him outside to see what is going on. The Davis brothers are, like the up and coming sociopaths they are, torturing a small create. In this case, a pigeon that is now permanently blind and missing a beak among other numerous injuries.

A brutalized pigeon that Corbin intends to save in Corbin’s Dreams Take Flight. The steps he takes and how that is accomplished is the focus in a dark tale that does not end in the way one would expect. It is also a very disturbing one.

Corbin’s Dreams Take Flight is certainly not for everyone. Especially if violence against animals and birds bother you as the bird has a very hard go of it before and after the rescue by Corbin. Well written, this is not a tale that makes you feel good about anyone. Unlike his recently published short story, The Louisville Problem, there is no mystery at work here. Other than how do folks end up like this as adults are not present and are only vaguely referred to a couple of times. Once could make an argument that this tale has links to the Lord of the Flies albeit on a much smaller scale.

A slice of life style piece set across a few weeks, Corbin’s Dreams Take Flight: A Short Story is one of the toughest things I have read in a very long time. While it may be only thirteen pages long, this is a tale that hits with the power of a sledgehammer upside the head.

Corbin’s Dreams Take Flight: A Short Story

CS DeWildt

http://www.csdewildt.com

Ugly Dad Books

https://uglydadbooks.com

August  2018

ASIN: B07GPQ2BD

eBook (paperback available)

13 Pages

$0.99

Material was picked up using finds in my Amazon Associate Account in order to read and review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2018

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