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Tom SheehanÕs publishers eagerly await each new manuscript. Some journal
editors enthusiastically publish any new Sheehan poem or short story sight
unseen because they know anything he writes will be exceptional. These
editors and publishers describe SheehanÕs work in glowing terms: ÒÉa national
treasureÉ;Ó ÒÉone of the finest authors and best
story tellers in the languageÉ.Ó So far heÕs been nominated for ten Pushcart
Prizes, won a 2006 Ippy Award, the Silver Rose Award for Excellence in the
Art of the Short Story, and the Georges Simenon Award for Excellence in
Fiction. So why isnÕt he internationally famous?
Readers canÕt skip read their way through Tom SheehanÕs stories if they want
to know the truth. The full impact of his work comes with savoring each word
and turn of phrase, lingering in those intimate moments that bring SheehanÕs
real or fictional characters to life. Consider, for example, this excerpt
from ÒThe Storekeeper,Ó where even a minor character and moment shines with
typical Sheehan vibrancy:
ÒThe hard words came
one evening just as supper hit the table and twilight was still holding sway,
the shadows soft, day dwindling down to its knees: her husband Harry had been
declared missing, lost at sea from a destroyer in the Mediterranean, half a
world away, a lifetime away. Shadows joined with shadows, loss atop loss.
George Drew, the fire chief, brought the word. He was the self-appointed
dispenser of the awful tasks in his snappy uniform, black gloves, white hat,
pants pressed so that the creases were like sheet metal lines, and all blue,
the length of him all blue. When he tucked his white hat under his blue arm,
every person on the street knew it was not an inspection of the premises
being approached, the slow walk into a front yard, the unhurried climb to the
porch, the soft tap on the door. And nothing followed that first announcement
of the loss of Harry. No whispers. No rumors. Loss settled on us, heavy as
one could imagine.Ó
In this latest book, Tom SheehanÕs diverse library of lives
include numbers runners, farmers, cops, children, parents, lovers,
soldiers and shipyard workers. His heroes are forged from simple folk who
come from tenements and side street shacks, boatyards and battlefields.
Within these pages, readers will find murder, trampled innocence, redemption,
and the endurance marks of shattered lives restored by time. And always,
tucked inside each of these 17 stories like a gift, Sheehan buries slow blurs
of beauty, sly humor, sensual joy, stabs of unearthly silence, and words
carried on wings of excruciating tenderness.
Tom Sheehan is the sort of writer who comes along once in a readerÕs
lifetime. HeÕs one of the best five living writers in the world, in my
opinion. His work is stunning, powerful, humorous, shattering, and highly
recommended.
Review by Laurel Johnson, Midwest Book
Review, New Works Review, SquidLit.com
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