Deep dives into the human character underlie Mark McCaig's
fast-read glimpses of what at first blush would seem momentary
absurdities. There's Pinkii, who became deeply obsessed with her little
toes and the fifth phalanges of all creatures. The stamp collector deeply
troubled by the busyness of the USPS modern-day art, preferring the
stately look that adorned envelopes decades in the past. The facial
recognition practitioner who dispensed immediate names, among
them Jellyfish, to a cousin, and Weasel, a lawyer on her elevator.
McCaig, a pioneering educator, presents appealing stories you can
knock out any time, perhaps when you're waiting for somebody,
or something. On hold with your doctor? His rapid-read takes,
steeped in technology, at times relate uncomfortable truths.
In Upgrade, a 200-word rapier treatment of the cell-phone
era, he contrasts the gleeful girl with her new prize at a cell
phone store with the Asian girl disassembling trade-ins at a
poisonous e-waste dump under the leering eyes of her oppressor.
In the best tradition of flash fiction, Jellyfish illuminates pains, excesses
and charming realities in the human condition-all in a flash.
