After the Plague
Bruce Tierney
Book Page 9/12/01

Many short story writers go on to be excellent novelists, but for some reason, few authors make the leap in the other direction. T. C. Boyle (you may remember him as T. Coraghessan Boyle, or simply as "that author with the unpronounceable middle name") has the advantage of having started out as a short story writer. Encouraged by author John Irving, he went on to create Water Music, the first of numerous acclaimed novels, but short stories remain a vital part of his writing. For his first book of the new millennium, Boyle offers up After the Plague, the tastiest collection of short stories in many a moon. Imbued with humor and the convoluted ethics of the modern day, his stories tackle such diverse issues as abortion, aging, Internet pornography and immigration. In one vignette, The Black and White Sisters, a pair of attractive middle-aged sisters hire a handyman to remove all color from their home environs: trees are removed, the lawn paved over, a high white wall erected. In another, My Widow, a tale of an arresting confrontation between an elderly woman and a predator is told in the person of the woman's dead husband.

Well-known in the literary community for his offbeat sense of humor, Boyle charms and amuses readers and interviewers alike. When queried as to what kind of voodoo he employs to craft a story, he replied, "I like the term voodoo because as people who know me well will realize, every morning I bleed a chicken into a pan, and I put my bare feet in that pan while typing. Once the blood cools, it's over for the day."

Whatever his secret, Boyle continues to create fiction that is thought provoking, satiric, offbeat and socially conscious, yet always beautifully written.