Jellyfish: Fictions

Deep dives into the human character underlie Mark McCaig's

fast-read glimpses of what at first blush would seem momentary

absurdities. There's Pinkii, who became deeply obsessed with her little

toes and the fifth phalanges of all creatures. The stamp collector deeply

troubled by the busyness of the USPS modern-day art, preferring the

stately look that adorned envelopes decades in the past. The facial

recognition practitioner who dispensed immediate names, among

them Jellyfish, to a cousin, and Weasel, a lawyer on her elevator.

McCaig, a pioneering educator, presents appealing stories you can

knock out any time, perhaps when you're waiting for somebody,

or something. On hold with your doctor? His rapid-read takes,

steeped in technology, at times relate uncomfortable truths.

In Upgrade, a 200-word rapier treatment of the cell-phone

era, he contrasts the gleeful girl with her new prize at a cell

phone store with the Asian girl disassembling trade-ins at a

poisonous e-waste dump under the leering eyes of her oppressor.

In the best tradition of flash fiction, Jellyfish illuminates pains, excesses

and charming realities in the human condition-all in a flash.