A View from the Borderline

By Charles Souby

Self-Published     2020

223 pages     Short Stories

A View from the Borderline serves as my introduction to the author Charles Souby. Each story in the volume  is unique, in part because the characters that fill the stories are unique. They are on the “borderline” of normal—some are not normal at all—that is if we have a common understanding of what the word “normal” means. The publicist who sent me the book acknowledges that  the characters range from “quirky to deranged.” I found the characters fascinating—some of them I might actually know. I am curious about his other published books; are all those characters as quirky?

Leonard is a person who can’t stop gambling but is so easily distracted by women that he can’t win. Meet Cindy, who  is a new receptionist at a law firm and decides to interview a potential client, with absolutely no experience, and has a great time doing it. “She wondered if her best years lay ahead or if they were where she was right now.” Or Otto who is struggling to find the right woman and has a successful first date with a woman who has “naughty” eyes. She is attracted to him as well. She tells him, “I like your mind, Otto. I like how you think.” He responds, “Really?” And I love her response: “Yeah, most guys are just a firewall of unexamined agenda.”

Well, I could go on and on describing terrific characters. My favorite story, however, has little to do with humans, and everything to do with antelope in the Serengeti. After a chance meeting with a young American savant, a herd of antelope decide to take charge of their lives, and operate in a way that keeps them from being part of the lions’ diet. In the end they create an autocracy. “Despite the daily struggles to make ends meet and a regular fear of both criminal violence and police abuse, it was a decent life for the average antelope on the Serengeti. They soon forgot about their primitive past and became fully adapted to a life of industry and productive growth.”

It caused me to remember my own trip to the Serengeti, when we watched a herd of antelope alertly listening to the frantic calls of some birds. The birds were warning the antelope of the imminent arrival of lions. It was fascinating to watch the birds turn the antelope in the opposite direction, and the antelope then ran away to safety. Perhaps they were the same herd that Souby was writing about.

Each story is short and totally unique. A View from the Borderline was a very fun book choice.

Charles Souby website.