Dancing Ducks and Talking Anus – James Ferry

James Ferry – ???

It was observed by reviewers of this collection that John Gardner picked authors for this collection that were not necessarily “known”.

Well- second story in, and I have a nobody!

I can’t find ANYTHING about James Ferry.

In the bio section located at the rear of the book, Ferry’s bio indicates that this was his first published story.

I have to wonder if it was his only published story.

In the intro, Gardner claims that he almost set this story aside into the “not chosen” pile based on the title alone. Then after the first sentence, again, he felt a stronger inclination to toss it away.

The first sentence reads:

“I suppose you’ve heard that Renée douched herself with sulfuric acid.”

Gardner pushed into the story a bit further and discovered a beautiful piece of art. I’m glad he decided to include it.

What did I get out of this story?

Well- it’s difficult.

-It caused me to think about love and the lengths we’ll go for it. It caused me to think about how it alters our perception of the world – both for the positive and the negative.

-Our positions in various stages of our lives – and the various lives we all lead throughout our time on earth.

-Just as it is thought that our taste buds change every seven or eight years, I feel that we make changes in life – of course, sometimes not of our own will.

Travel, changes in cultures, births, deaths, marriages, divorces, career paths, addictions – so many factors that can cause our little ship in this violent ocean to be swept under.

With everything I’ve been through in my life, I’m lucky – I’ve never felt the need to douche with sulfuric acid-so to speak.

Now, a mental douching from time to time can be healthy – perhaps not with something as strong as sulfuric acid – but close.

Ingest thoughts and ideas, music and visions that shake you up. Reset your mind from time to time.

These stories do that for me - The words, sentences and stories that pass through my brain – traveling across all the lightening fast connectors – forming new ideas and actually growing my brain – swelling it, I envision a bit fat pulsating mind.

-good stuff in here – really good stuff.