A Short Story Collection
A Damn Tree
A detective obsessed with wrestling. A man with a fetish for inflatable sheep. A Japanese-speaking alien. These are just a few of the bizarre individuals that the protagonists in A Damn Tree encounter. In the twelve stories that make up M.P. Newman’s magnificent debut story collection, we follow these pro- tagonists as they struggle to find stability and fulfillment in an increasingly bewildering world. Characters like Benny, a man who stands in the park pretending to be a tree, Bill, a watchman at an illicit business, and Steve, a voyeur keeping an eye on his neighbors, are witnesses to the confusion of the world, powerless against the violence and heartbreak that surrounds them. And yet, whenever all seems lost, there is peace to be found in the people they grow close to.
A Damn Tree is a dazzlingly creative collection, comic and frightening, but always with a deep appreciation for the world, nature, and above all the love that people can share in their friends, family, and romantic partners. So when you find a hair
in your soup, take heart—it may have fallen from the head of a friend.
A Damn Tree is a dazzlingly creative collection, comic and frightening, but always with a deep appreciation for the world, nature, and above all the love that people can share in their friends, family, and romantic partners. So when you find a hair
in your soup, take heart—it may have fallen from the head of a friend.
Synopses
- In “One Time in Africa,” a wealthy Londoner travels to rural Ghana in search of the woman of his dreams—literally—and the purpose of his life, only to find that neither is what he expected.
- “Of Life and Death” tells the story of a Bill, watchman at a mysterious, illicit business, and the choices he must make between his duties to his employer and to his humanity.
- “Baghdad-Manhattan” examines the turmoil of an Iraqi refugee trying to make a new life for himself as he fights against his past, his inner demons, and the unfamiliar temptations of New York City.
- In “Super Spy,” we witness a voyeur’s obsessive surveillance of his neighbors, including a kind-hearted Vietnamese family and their pigs, a webcam-modeling business, and a German couple hosting a perpetual, and increasingly debauched, party.
- A man arrives at the hospital with an unusual complaint in “The Alien Anal Probe”—and neither the police nor the on-call psychiatrist believes him until they receive another surprise visitor.
- “A Damn Tree” is the story of Benny, a man whose sole responsibility is to wake up each morning, dress in camouflage, and stand so still that even birds see only a tree, and of his neighbor Nathalie, a single mother who is determined to see him as a man.
- “Coo—Wings of Peace” takes place in the pit cave into which eighteen-year-old Harry has fallen after a drunken night. With only the pigeons he despises as company, Harry meditates on the choices that have brought him here, and the changes he will make—if he survives.
Praise for A Damn Tree
I really enjoyed the writing style of M.P. Newman, it had that overall feel that I wanted and enjoyed about the genre. Each story was well crafted and can’t wait to read more.
Kat M
Goodreads Review
A good book, all the stories were good.
Angie Hardy
Amazon Review
A brilliant collection of short stories which will have you wanting so much more. See where each one of them will take you.
Tanya
Goodreads Review
