The Critical List

By John Wenke

Tales from the Post-Contemporary Tundra

In The Critical List, John Wenke explores the fraying family ties and impending disasters of modern life. A widowed young woman, her leg broken during an abusive incident, attends a child's birthday party at a seedy play rink. A retired cop can't stop fixing a brain-damaged war vet's problems. These stories tangle with the anxieties erupting on what Wenke calls "the post-contemporary tundra."

People teeter on the edge in these pages: a former jailbird under house arrest, a would-be teenage parricide, a former philosophy professor now homeless and living in the subway underground. With dark humor and sharp observation, Wenke's stories capture the precariousness of life and the human struggle to find meaning in a world on the brink. For readers of literary fiction, short stories, and dark comedies.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1947548980
• ISBN13: 9781947548985
• Release Date: August 2020
• Publisher: Regal House Publishing
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.4" x 8.4"