Eternal Night at the Nature Museum

September 1, 2021
A quirky, often mischievous collection of stories by flash fictionist Barton. There's no narrative thread or really any rhyme or reason to this collection, but that's definitely part of its charm. The stories here can be contained in a single paragraph or spread out to etch little moments in the lives of their characters. In some ways, it's reminiscent of Raymond Carver or John Steinbeck in its evident compassion for the human condition but also doesn't linger long enough to offer a deep dive into the pathos of its denizens. The opener, "Once Nothing, Twice Shatter," begins with a bang as an aging radio shock jock finds bigger and better jolts to the nervous system when he becomes a demolition derby driver. Some are mere sketches but entertaining nonetheless, as in "The Skins," which chronicles the search for the perfect set of hand claps for a recording studio, or the equally brief "County Map (Detail)," which is pretty much just a laundry list of small-town idiosyncrasies. There are some really great lines here, ranging from the opener of "Hiccups Forever"--"An hour after it happened, I watched our house explode"--to the Sam Shepard-ish vibe that launches "Spit If You Call It Fear" as the narrator confesses, "He's my brother and I love him but, Jesus, I won't miss him." "Black Sands," one of the more playful tales, finds the inherent humor in old age as a 14-year-old girl clashes with her father, while the assisted living residents in "Of a Whole Body (Passing Through)" plot to escape their prison at every opportunity. There's also some genuine old-school flashbacks, as in "K," which finds a guy reflecting on his childhood addiction to break dancing, and more modern satire in "Cowboy Man, Major Player," which employs the themes of Modest Mouse's music to portray the foibles of a man accidentally becoming a meme. Funny, surprising, and disarmingly poignant stories that can appear laissez faire but are in fact, very finely crafted.

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September 27, 2021
The 20 stories in Barton’s winsome debut collection feature offbeat protagonists who face uphill battles on their own. In “Once Nothing, Twice Shatter,” a middle-aged former radio shock jock announces demolition derbies at a cultlike compound, which he later tries to escape from. “Iowa Darter” features a museum worker with a prison record who worries about his ability to do his job and is encouraged at work by a kid in a Darth Vader costume to save a fish that’s been half-eaten by another fish. In “Ms. Badislav’s Vomit,” a 17-year-old feels close to God the night he volunteers at his church’s drive-thru window with his agitated psych teacher, Ms. Badislav. In “Watchperson,” an aggrieved self-appointed neighborhood watchman writes up a crime report after picking up a carjacking couple. The story takes on a sinister tone as the narrator reveals his applications to join the police department have been repeatedly rejected, and that he blames the police for his mother’s death 20 years earlier. Though a few of the shorter works feel scattered and fragmented, Barton lends each protagonist dignity despite them being oddballs or outsiders, and their plights are often tinged with humor that make their weird situations hard to turn away from. Despite a few bumps, Barton impresses with his fresh voice and vibrant imagination.