I picked up Kissing the Damned, by Mark Foss, at the Dusty Owl on Sunday, and it's a quick read (plus, I have a pretty flexible schedule these days.) Finished it this morning. The question I of course failed to ask when he said, at the end of the reading, "Are there any questions?" was, why did he choose to write this book as a collection of linked stories rather than as a novel? His answer, when I asked him after the reading when I finally thought to ask it, was pretty simple: it was less overwhelming. I can relate.
These stories flow together enough to feel like a novel, though, even with the changes from first to third person that occasionally happen - and now my question would have been, why did he choose third person for some of the stories and third for others? Having done much the same thing with short stories I've written, though, I can almost predict the answer would be, "because that's how it came out."
It's nice to see a longer story told in short stories, too. I can absolutely sympathize - that's how I write most of my fiction (when I write it) too. In this case, it also works effectively with the story. The story centers on the main character and his moments of communication and miscommunication. In following a crumbling relationship (or three,) it does something very similar to what memory does; it doesn't give you a continuous narrative, just a handful of moments where things might have gone differently or where something important was said or understood.
I may still ask Mark, when I see him next, about the perspective changes. If he's figured out why he does it, maybe he can tell me why I do.
