A collection of twelve stories by award-winning author Christine
Sneed
The stories in Direct Sunlight, award-winning author Christine Sneed's
latest, are inspired by the memorable strangeness of everyday life. The
characters in these topically diverse tales experience events that bring
the terms of their day-to-day lives and their relationships into focus
in a way hitherto foreign to them.
The title story features two adult children learning of their father's
second family long after his death in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. "Mega
Millions" explores the aftermath of a small-town midwestern factory
employee's enormous lottery win. In "Dear Kelly Bloom," a young
journalist takes on the role of advice columnist at a faltering Chicago
newspaper around the time of the 2008 financial meltdown and soon finds
himself tasked with replying to his own mother's letter requesting
guidance on family matters. In "The Monkey's Uncle Louis," a contentedly
childless man tries to make sense of his sister's decision to adopt a
capuchin monkey after she and her husband find themselves unable to
conceive a baby of their own.
The stories in Direct Sunlight rely on humor but are balanced by
Sneed's clear-eyed sobriety about the sorrows inherent in the human
condition.
