A couple announcements of the nice-thing variety. First, Without Expiration was named a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award! Secondly, Without Expiration was awarded a Kirkus Star. I’m a big “journey” guy (as in the actual and metaphoric journey of life and the band…don’t you ever stop believin’), but it is an honor to be recognized by Kirkus and the Hoffer award committee, especially for an eclectic anthology that endeavors to be bold, inventive and daring, three things that are often spoken of but usually eschewed in favor of commercial formulas. I often wax poetic about the notion that connecting with just one reader is truly worth all the blood and tears spent writing and editing a book, and I’m grateful that WE has touched so many people to date.
You can read the full Kirkus Review below:
“Flawed, despondent characters show a surprising wit and humanity in a collection of 12 tales, most of them previously published.
Two lovers are lying together in this book’s opening story, “Bermuda Triangle.” Their mutual fondness is evident, but it’s clear they aren’t likely to divorce their spouses. This is the attitude that characters in this collection adopt, simply accepting their reality, however imperfect it is. In “Left To Soak,” for example, Helen’s 46-year union with her shiftless husband, Hank, has involved endless days of washing the dishes alone. As she returns home from her three-day hospital stay, she unhappily anticipates the stack awaiting her. Hincy saturates the pages in sardonicism, primarily aimed at marriage. In the gloomy but superlative “A Study in Discontinuity,” geologist Edward had been having an affair with a student when his wife, Christa, was in a debilitating accident. She winds up comatose but periodically awakens over the course of years to berate Edward mercilessly. Nevertheless, there’s a fair amount of wit and satire in this new book by the author of A Fire for Christmas (2016). The comedic highlight is “Amen,” which parodies religion, primarily Catholicism. But it’s a lighthearted tale without spite: This religion’s God, who narrates, causes some trouble by inadvertently passing misinformation to a priest whimsically named Poopé Hal. Hincy’s taut prose makes the entire collection a quick read but still fills the stories with indelible passages. In “A Thousand Counted and Unrepentant Debts,” life coach Bill blatantly describes himself as “not a man of my word; I’m a man of words, none of which I’m particularly committed to.” Similarly, “A Study in Discontinuity” is rife with often amusing footnotes that are considerably more revealing than the narrative itself. The book strikes a chord with characters whose defects make them simultaneously believable and with descriptions of moments involving a loved one’s death, either its prolonged aftermath or its inevitability.
Cynicism and cheekiness abound in brief but memorable stories.” – Kirkus Reviews
The link below will take you to Kirkus Reviews with WE’s review and a lot of other great content.
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/william-r-hincy/without-expiration-a-personal-anthology/
You can view the complete list of finalists at the link below.
http://www.hofferaward.com/Eric-Hoffer-Award-category-finalists.html#.Xu7AfkVKiUk