ETERNAL NIGHT AT THE NATURE MUSEUM

A quirky, often mischievous collection of stories by flash fictionist Barton.

There’s no narrative thread or really any rhyme or reason to this collection, but that’s definitely part of its charm. The stories here can be contained in a single paragraph or spread out to etch little moments in the lives of their characters. In some ways, it’s reminiscent of Raymond Carver or John Steinbeck in its evident compassion for the human condition but also doesn’t linger long enough to offer a deep dive into the pathos of its denizens. The opener, “Once Nothing, Twice Shatter,” begins with a bang as an aging radio shock jock finds bigger and better jolts to the nervous system when he becomes a demolition derby driver. Some are mere sketches but entertaining nonetheless, as in “The Skins,” which chronicles the search for the perfect set of hand claps for a recording studio, or the equally brief “County Map (Detail),” which is pretty much just a laundry list of small-town idiosyncrasies. There are some really great lines here, ranging from the opener of “Hiccups Forever”—“An hour after it happened, I watched our house explode"—to the Sam Shepard–ish vibe that launches “Spit If You Call It Fear” as the narrator confesses, “He’s my brother and I love him but, Jesus, I won’t miss him.” "Black Sands," one of the more playful tales, finds the inherent humor in old age as a 14-year-old girl clashes with her father, while the assisted living residents in “Of a Whole Body (Passing Through)” plot to escape their prison at every opportunity. There’s also some genuine old-school flashbacks, as in “K,” which finds a guy reflecting on his childhood addiction to break dancing, and more modern satire in “Cowboy Man, Major Player,” which employs the themes of Modest Mouse’s music to portray the foibles of a man accidentally becoming a meme.

Funny, surprising, and disarmingly poignant stories that can appear laissez faire but are in fact, very finely crafted.