Finally back with a book post (well, short story post).. but first a bit of blog business... just on the odd chance that anyone is still reading any of this. Ok, I know there are a few of you!
Anyhow, I have had to add that annoying CAPTCHA verification (you know where you have to type a word(s) that you can never read!) for comments. I had just been getting absolutely pummeled with spam, so that seemed to the only solution. Kind of frustrating to see that some are still getting in, but not the 50+ spam comments I faced on some mornings. So, I apologize, I really dislike CAPTCHA and knows it discourages comments, especially when you can't figure it out.
Ok, onto this next read...
Having read The Handmaid's Tale eons ago, I have been meaning to get back to some Margaret Atwood, but for those of us who have mile-high to-be-read lists you know how that goes! So I was pleased when I saw this Kindle single/short story (about 60 pages at $2.50) available to either encourage or discourage me from seeking more Atwood out.
Not that I was ever expecting the latter, but this short story was something I wish had been blown out into a full novel. It is the story of Stan and Charmaine, a seemingly happy couple living in gated time-share community... well, this is Atwood... so it is a closed society set in a dystopic future where folks trade-off their time between white-picket fence suburbia and a pretty cushy, white-collar type prison. When Stan finds a lipstick kissed note with the erotically-charged "I'm Starved For You" tucked beneath his refrigerator, he assumes it is just a leftover from the other couple who occupies their home while Stan and Charmaine voluntarily incarcerate themselves. But he starts fantasizing about this woman, and that's only the beginning of the exploration of this dysfunctional marriage... and new society.
Well-written, creative, with a good under-current of humor (so lacking in today's dystopia, go figure?!). Again, my only complaint is that I would have liked more of it, but a great way to spend a couple of hours.
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