What I’m Reading: TALES OF TINFOIL

One of the wonderful side effects of the digital publishing revolution is the resurgence in quality short fiction. Never a huge reader (or writer) of short stories, this trend is changing my reading (and writing) habits. I believe I’ve read more short story anthologies in the past six months than in all my prior forty-some years combined.

If you think of short story anthologies as a smorgasbord of authors, then Tales of Tinfoil is one of the best collections I’ve sampled. Subtitled “Stories of Paranoia and Conspiracy”  and edited by David Gatewood, this anthology takes aim at some of the greatest urban myths of our generation.

Take Eric Tozzi’s “That’s a Wrap from the Sea of Tranquility,” the hilarious true story of the Apollo 11 moon landing as told by the director Harry Waldo McNixon—yes, the Harry McNixon. The end is nigh and Harry is telling all—the CIA, the suitcase full of cash, the warehouse where he filmed the fake moon landing, every last detail. Oh, in case you’re wondering, we actually did land on the moon, but the astronauts were busy on a special mission so they ran Harry’s footage instead of the real deal. Tozzi, a filmmaker in real life, has a wonderful tongue-in-cheek style and peppers Harry’s retelling with authentic details that make the story come to life.

“The French Deception” by Chris Pourteau is an unexpected gem. Set in WWII France, the city of Paris has fallen and Major General Leonard T “Gee” Gerow pays a visit to his superior officer with a letter uncovered in the French archives of foreign affairs. His men were looking for Nazi records, but stumbled on something much more explosive. Pourteau is one of my favorite up and coming authors who combines inventive plot lines, historical events, and great military characters into some fabulous reading.

Where would a book of conspiracy stories be without the grand-daddy of them all, the Kennedy assassination? In “Under the Grassy Knoll,” Richard Gleaves tells the story of Don Petterman, an old school Kennedy conspiracist who spends his days selling DVDs in Dealey Plaza. Don is having a particularly bad day that gets capped off with dropping his brand-new iPad—a gift from his daughter—into the sewer. In a moment of clarity, he realizes that he lacks the key element of a true conspiracist: his own theory. What follows is part happenstance, part detective work, with an equal measure of heartbreak as Don gets his final wish.

I could go on: the everlasting light bulb is covered in style by Ernie Lindsey in “The Long Slow Burn,” Jennifer Ellis takes on The King in “Manufacturing Elvis,” and Ed Robertson tells us what really happened at Roswell in “The Final Flight of Michael Aoki.” This is an even dozen tales that will satisfy the funny bone and the truth-seeker in any conspiracy theorist.

Highly recommended.

David Bruns is the creator of the sci-fi series The Dream Guild Chronicles, and one half of the Two Navy Guys and a Novel blog series about co-writing the military thriller, Weapons of Mass Deception, coming in May 2015.