Synopsis

In his previous collection, Not Quite so Stories, David S. Atkinson twisted reality with small absurdities. Roses are Red, Violets are Stealing Loose Change from my Pockets While I Sleep leaves sanity completely behind, pondering modern life through surreal humorous flash fiction involving Margaret Thatcher, jam appearing in boxers overnight, Gene Roddenberry, and more.

Advance Praise

David Atkinson’s writing resides smack between the surreal and the fantastic, with rabbits reading Bridget Jones’s Diary, a Heathrow Airport customs line for Americans located in a fish-and-chips kiosk, and Margaret Thatcher as a serial kidnapper. But what he writes about is firmly rooted in reality-the ways that society can get you by the throat and shake you; the insanity woven into the fabric of modern life. Reading his latest collection, you’ll laugh out loud while right next to you your ghost twin will read along, soberly, nodding in recognition. -Lynn Mundell, co-editor of 100 Word Story

David S. Atkinson’s imagination is a beast unleashed! The stories in Roses are Red, Violets are Stealing Loose Change from My Pockets While I Sleep are bizarre and hilarious, taking us into a highly peculiar landscape with scenarios that leave me wondering: Where does he come up with this stuff? Narrated with his signature intellectual deadpan (think “straight man”) and featuring labyrinthian titles that unroll all the way to near slapstick, Atkinson leads us from one outlandish situation to the next without flinching, apologizing, or justifying. -Nancy Stohlman, author of The Vixen Scream and Other Bible Stories

Brace yourselves, fair readers, because this is one weird ride. David S. Atkinson’s stories don’t just walk the fine line between satire and surrealism, they dance on top of it while juggling knives. From the hilarious titles, to their far-out premises, to the noodle-like leaps of logic that dictates how each of these micro-universes function: this collection of flash fiction is a cannonade of well-crafted absurdity. – Danger Slater, Wonderland Award winning author of I Will Rot Without You and He Digs A Hole

David Atkinson is the only author alive who can write absurdist-magical-humorous-poignant fiction, period. But that isn’t what makes his short story collection great. What makes Roses are Red, Violets are Stealing Loose Change from my Pockets While I Sleep great is his ability to find that perfect sentence to fuse all of the madness together. “We had to get some coffee in us first,” says the narrator who must deal with an otherworldly invasion of perky people wearing leotards. “Tell me about it, Ben,” says the narrator who only half-listens to the plight of one of our country’s Founding Fathers. Sometimes, the madness makes perfect sense, as in “The Quickest Way to a Man’s Heart is to Turn Left a Pecos and Follow the Roundabout,” in which the narrator begins in a Kix-flavored fit and ends up massacring a story word by word. Whether everything is related or not, you can be sure Paula Abdul won’t be returning any of your calls regardless. – Ken Brosky, author of The Proving and co-author of The Grimm Chronicles

About the Author

David S. Atkinson is the author of “Not Quite so Stories” (“Literary Wanderlust” 2016), “The Garden of Good and Evil Pancakes” (2015 National Indie Excellence Awards finalist in humor), and “Bones Buried in the Dirt” (2014 Next Generation Indie Book Awards finalist, First Novel <80K). His writing appears in “Bartleby Snopes,” “Grey Sparrow Journal,” “Atticus Review,” and others. He spends his non-literary time working as a patent attorney in Denver.

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Giveaway

David has kindly offered up a print copy of this book.  You have a week to enter and many ways to enter via the Rafflecopter below!

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