God Love Sex Death

Short Story Anthology

By: John Sarkett, Franklin Sarkett, Carl Gustafson

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

God, love, sex and death – have we, like bluesman John Lee Hooker, “covered the waterfront?” Maybe. Maybe not. Here's a few words to introduce each story:

1. “Not True” sets the stage and includes the suggestion of not picking fights with God. Sounds obvious, but why do so many do it?
2. “Take it or leave it” was a cryptic non sequitur my mother-in-law once blurted out to me in response to some unintelligible and unintelligent advice she received from another family member. It also applies to much (most?) of married life, I came to find out, and I present evidence here.
3. “Tracy and the Ever-Encroaching Darkness” gives a look at the prospect of romantic relationship when played against the clock.
4. “Talk Radio” is the date-from-hell. Have you been on one? Written by my son, trying his hand at fiction. Turned out rather well, no?
5. “Drive faster, faster” turns on its head that ‘weddings are the happiest times.’
6. “Fiery Serpent” presents dreams of the non-material world.
7. “Indian Buckeye” is a story of being included by a powerful social set, inadvertently excluded, and then consciously and conscientiously letting go, accepting one’s limitations, and finding one’s own way.
8. “Hey Jude” recounts a traveler’s unlikely interactions with celebrity, and raises issues of guile, and naiveté.
9. “The Kingdom of Staunch” was written when the author was 17 (and then lost for the next 45 years); for which he received a suggestion from a knowledgeable source that it should be published, to his astonishment. Yet, this prescient gesture of confidence planted a seed. The story itself is loosely based on a yet future event described in Revelation. On re-reading it, lo, these many years hence, it seems to be faintly reminiscent of “The Village” (2004, M. Night Shyamalan) for its insularity. We were nothing, if not insular, at 17.
10. Similarly apocalyptic in nature, “The Black Bat and The White Penguin” is a strange parable written by a flying rodent about a promise God made long ago, whose fulfillment we eagerly await...
11. “Jesus Is Calling” is an advice not to get old.
12. “Vegetables for Everyone” shows how even the best intentions can get, well, sliced and diced, chopped and shredded.
13. “Operatic Silliness” takes place in the desert by New Orleans.
14. “Christians Busy Being Christians” presents yet another tale from the inexhaustible and ironical realm of ‘the saved.’
15. “Serenity Man” is an account of an email exchange, weighted with irony as heavy as with barbell plates.
16. “Tennis Man” takes a turn in favor of humanity.
17. “Ubering around town” is a comment on why can’t people just be nice (hint: because they’re evil, and you don’t have to look far to be reminded).
18. “Classical Violence” takes that sentiment and kicks it up to an exponent….
19. “The Piano Tuner” -- and kicks it up again, this time to the 100th power.
20. “Pavane for a Dead Princess” is an exploration of a father-daughter relationship.
21. “Only the Lonely,” a simple day in the life that everyone in a trying relationship will aver to.
22. “Microcosm Scenes from a Marriage” is a ticket out of hell.
23. “What the Cat Said” is a ticket to hell.
24. “Post Political, Post Familial” is a little story about the lies we tell ourselves, all day, every day.
25. “The Woman Who Split in Two” didn’t happen, but it could have.
26. “The Mingle” follows an online dater.
27. The unforgettable “The Last Night on the Ghan” reminds us how ephemeral and fleeting our time with others, and our time on this planet is.
28. “The Pick-a-Rib Cafe” is another powerful story of inclusion and exclusion, in a coming-of-age setting.
29. “Family Reunion” is an unproduced screenplay about the process of rebuilding one’s life after tragedy. Once upon a time Warner Bros. said some nice things about it.