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Tax-exempt? | Curled in the Bed of Love Always, mortality threatens the lovers' embrace. In the title story, Jim and his HIV-positive partner contend with an illness that has fueled their love but also threatens to consume it. In some stories, an outsider exposes the frailty of a relationship. Claire, who's opted for a steady marriage in "The Loss of Green," is both stirred and repelled by the advances of her former mate Sam, a radical environmentalist with a predatory need to reassert his claim on her. And in "Behold the Handmaid of the Lord," Debbie, compelled to translate a brief affair with her cousin's fiancé into a profound transgression, comes clean on a sleazy national talk show. All of Brady's stories are gritty and unflinching in their gaze, yet lyrical and rich in the imagery of stasis and change-an empty house too long on the market, a pair of kayakers riding out a patch of rough sea, a greenhouse in which the orchid blooms only suggest the darting vitality of butterflies and birds. There is much to learn in these tales of flawed but good people working hard to hold their lives together. Catherine Brady teaches in the MFA in Writing program at the University of San Francisco. Her stories have appeared in such publications as the Cimarron Review, Other Voices, and Natural Bridge. Brady's first short-story collection, The End of the Class War, was a Book Sense 76 selection and a finalist for the Western States Book Award in fiction. Her other honors include a Redbook Young Writer's Award. September 2003 ISBN 0820325457 cloth • $24.95 216 pp. • 5 1/4 x 8 in.A volume in the seriesThe Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction "How does she do it? Kate Brady's range is dazzling. . . . Her stories, unflaggingly compassionate, delve into the complexities of identity and connection." —Lan Samantha Chang, author of Hunger: A Novella and Stories"Curled in the Bed of Love is an achingly lovely collection about the ache of love. Catherine Brady is a thrilling young fictional voice." —Robert Olen Butler, author of Mr. Spaceman"Brady's stories wrap all the old questions in new packaging: live, crisp prose and characters who genuinely seem to feel. The plots may be familiar, but the sensibility is refreshingly different." —Kirkus Reviews"It's rare for a writer to explore with such subtlety and respect the curious sumbiosis of the needy and the needed as Brady does."-Joyce Carol Oates, The New York Review of Books "Compelling and illuminating short stories that reveal private passions, the human tendency to cling to the familiar and the razor's edge on which so many relationships are balanced. Brady shows a broad range, while retaining a simple, yet strong and clear voice. She is a writer to watch."-Mercury News "Brady is a meticulous writer. Every word seems carefully chosen in order to trace the fine contours of her characters' subtle and complex desires. . . . The grace of Brady's writing is only enhanced by the dialogue between the characters. At times it is surprisingly snappy. Surprising, perhaps, because their internal lives are described with such care, their desires and inner struggles mapped so astutely."-Rebecca Tuch, Women's Review of Books "Brady's stories wrap all the old questions in new packaging: live crisp prose and characters who genuinely feel."-Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 2003 "Highly readable. Brady has a powerful descriptive control and an ease with words that serve to complicate ordinary setups and deliver quietly devastating moments. She attempts to take on every sad aspect of relationships, from disease and death to infidelity and impotence, yet the strongest stories make the reader understand why we still go on looking for love."-Prudence Peiffer, Library Journal"Brady embraces an Eskimo-like understanding that love has multiple meanings and infinite variations...Whatever the circumstance, the character-driven stories are taut, well told, and reminiscent of at least someone everyone knows-or has been. Her book extends what readers thought they knew about love."-Camille-Yvette Welsch, ForeWord Magazine "How does she do it? Kate Brady's range is dazzling: from tender to biting, from the perspective of menial workers to that of jaded affluent women, to that of sweet, wounded men-Brady treats all her characters with unwavering honesty and pathos. She draws us into the private corners of myriad lives. Her stories, unflaggingly compassionate, delve into the complexities of identity and connection."-Toni Graham, author of The Daiquiri Girls "Catherine Brady is an expert at creating fascinating characters and placing them in a myriad of interesting situations. Each of the eleven stories is a delight, yet each story is remarkably different from the others."-The Virginia Quarterly Review |
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