HOW YOU LEAVE TEXAS

By

Alana Cash

BLURB:  

How You Leave Texas is a volume of three short stories and a novella about four young women who leave Midland, Austin, Fort Worth and Mayville, Texas for New York, California, Jakarta, and in one instance, jail.  They seek escape from boredom and sorrow and find it.  The stories are hilarious, tragic, revelatory.

EXCERPT:

Dam Broke – after high school graduation, two quirky best friends reveal big secrets.

In sixth grade, I abandoned the reading glasses for a blond wig and a fake mole above my top lip. Mickey started wearing sunglasses indoors and carrying business cards.

Camille’s Net Worth – on her 40th birthday, Camille’s life falls apart in uncontrolled demolition.  Life improves when she gets a job creating art paper and returns to painting.  But the plot twists and she ends up in jail, laughing.

“I’m not going to spend much time repeating myself,” Camille said, “I want you to remove whatever you want to keep from this house. You can store your stuff in a rental truck if you need to until you find a new home, but you will be gone from here by midnight and never return.”

“You can’t do that!”

“If you are not gone by midnight, I will set fire to the house.”

Krystal’s Wedding – Heading for New York, Krystal leaves behind her shoddy family in Midland, Texas. Ill-prepared for the culture shock and expense, she takes a few slippery steps before she finds true independence.

Krystal’s family wasn’t an American success story. Mom felt like life had cheated her since Daddy never made any real money and spent most nights getting drunk at the Welcome Inn. Erin never finished beauty school and worked at a donut shop.  Bethany worked as a bar-back at the Rusty Nail and was turning out like Daddy. Alcoholic, back-slapping, charming. Eddie Garthwaite, owner of Garthwaite Used Cars located on Interstate 20 between Midland and Odessa. Eddie Garthwaite who currently had his driver’s license suspended because of a DUI.

Frying Your Burger (based on a true story) – Nicky and her friends spend mornings slinging repartee in a coffee shop.  While paying a traffic fine, she meets a director and soon finds herself a pawn for two directors trying to ruin each others careers.

I went into the room marked Cashier and got into a long line. And there he was. Grinning that grin. He should have had a license for it. It was that bright. I stood next to him in my white t-shirt and white pants looking like someone straight out of the “hospital orderly fashion catalogue.” It was all I had clean that day.

AUTHOR INFORMATION:

Alana Cash is an adventurer.  She’s trekked alone through war-torn Serbia and has slept in a KGB interrogation room in Prague.  She’s been to a gypsy fair in rural England, a bullfight in Laredo, and parasailing in Acapulco.  She’s been inside the New York Stock Exchange and eaten in J. Pierpont Morgan’s home dining room.  She’s gone on a ride-along in a New York City patrol car and kissed a man inside the Norman Bates Psycho house at Universal Studios.  She’s been a lifeguard, legal secretary, accountant, writer, teacher, filmmaker and artist.

Her experiences are inspiration for her work as an acclaimed writer and filmmaker.

• She was one of 60 US teachers profiled on the PBS series, “A Writer’s Exchange,” for her talent as a teacher at the University of Texas Informal Classes  – many of her students published and won writing awards
• Her feature film, “Tom’s Wife,” based on her novel of the same name, won awards all over the world
• Her documentary “Anna Freud: Under Analysis,” part of documentary trilogy on women in science, was translated into German for broadcast in Austria, Germany & Switzerland.
• Her collection How You Leave Texas placed first place in the Short Story category of the GLOBAL BOOK CONTEST 2013.

 
How You Leave Texas by Alana Cash

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Short stories are often not a genre that I read, and there are times I question whether I should continue to review these stories. This book reminds me why I continue–the stories are short enough for a quick night’s read. And frequently the reader will discover at least one story that is liked. For me, this book follows standard protocol. The author is able to completely immerse the reader in the story even if all the details are not clear. I am grateful for her minimal use of profanity (it doesn’t really show up until the final story), and sex is only discussed in passing (until you get to the last story).

I will be honest–I’m not a massive fan of this short story collection. There are four stories, but I truly enjoyed the second. I believe it was the most creative. I did not relish the final story at all, but this is only my opinion. I would have preferred more details, but then again, I prefer novels and novellas. I would have relished the book more had there been a unifying theme between the story (other than the Texas connection). Sometimes the ending seemed a bit abrupt, but I honestly cannot fault the author for having a twist that keeps the reader guessing. I have read short story collections that do that, but again, this is merely a personal preference.

If you are in the mood for something out of the ordinary, this collection may be for you. I would certainly be willing to read other stories from this author (maybe she will develop the second story into a full-length book!), but this is just not my exact cup of tea.

I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I was not financially compensated, and all opinions are 100 percent mine.

View all my reviews

Alana will be awarding a screen printed camisole (What Happens in the Bedroom Stays in the Bedroom) to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour as well as a screen printed Brass Nuts t-shirt to another commenter. Also, everyone who reviews the book will receive their choice of a camisole or T-shirt.

Follow the entire tour for more chances to win: 

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/05/virtual-book-tour-how-you-leave-texas.html

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