Book Review: Shallow Ends by David James Keaton

 

 

Shallow Ends by David James Keaton

 288 pages, Paperback
Expected publication: September 24, 2024 by Podium Publishing

 

Years ago, homey Anthony Trevino lent me The Last Projector by David James Keaton. It sounded good, and Anthony swore by it. I can’t explain it, but that book has been unread on my TBR pile in four apartments. Probably 8 years now. For the life of me why I have not read it is a mystery and at this point, I think I am just being stubborn.

I mean I read Head Cleaner his last novel, and Interviewed David on the podcast. That fucking book was one of my favorites of that year.  I even made it Dick-like Suggestion on the Dickheads podcast. So, think about it. I talked about Keaton’s weird SF VCR time travel novel on not one, but two podcasts. I also think of him every time a character in a movie takes a decompression shower, seriously once you notice it they are as pervasive as giant massive grave holes that magically happen in movies. Why do I think of DJK when a character stands in the shower and just thinks about their horrible situation? Because whenever he sees it in a movie or TV he posts a picture of it. I can’t unsee them because of him. That should serve as a reminder, of that book still sitting on the TBR.

The point is I have plenty of reminders and reasons to read The Last Projector and I have not. Then last month a package showed up on my porch. In the package mailed by David James Keaton there was a DVD for Innocent Blood.  A movie I saw in the theater that I used to call ‘European Vampire in Pittsburgh’. Get it? John Landis the director of American Werewolf in London directed it. It had the same horror comedy tone. They should’ve called the movie by that title. There was also a CD for the band Yes: The Yes Album. I was listening to the Misfits this morning. Now for the rest of this review, I will listen to that Yes album. I am not a Yes Fan, so this may become a commentary on Prog rock. I like Prog metal, so maybe I will like it.

Bye, bye Danzig and the boys. Here comes Yes.

The package also contained a novel by David James Keaton. Which I have read already despite not reading The Last Projector, and even though he sent me this hippie bullshit in the mail. Yes is the hippie bullshit to be clear. Shallow Ends is the novel.  In one way it is a throwback. In the Golden Age of Science Fiction, authors would break up novels and sell them as short stories, later compile them into what were called Fix-up novels.

As best I can tell Keaton took seven short stories that he published in various places and recycled them into this novel. You can call it smart or shroud because the common wisdom is that readers don’t want to buy short story collections. They want novels baby.  One long story with characters that grow and have character arcs over a complete book. So here is David James Keaton the author of seven published short stories and what does he do with them?  Publishers don’t want a collection.

So I am sure he turned on a hot shower let the water run on him and closed his eyes. As the steam rose cinematically around him in his moment of despair an idea!  I will put them together in one novel with a single story to tie them together.  (I can’t take anymore Yes, I might have to cleanse with Morbid Angel. Speaking of YES – Why didn’t Weird Al ever make “Donor of a Faulty Heart?”)

You maybe asking now? Who could make that work? The Answer is clearly the author of the Last Projector David James Keaton. This is a pretty solid act of writing, not everyone could take seven stories seemly slide them into one novel, thankfully the stories are thematically themed and stylistically suited for the task.

The story of the fire truck converted into a nightmarish party bus sets perfectly for Keaton's hilarious Clerks meets Twilight Zone vibe. Add a bit of Speed (the movie, not the other stuff) and you have all the ingredients for a fun read.  The party bus heads out of Louisville, where the novel starts on a lost highway, it won't stop, the poor bastards are afraid it will never stop.  As the characters try to figure out how they ended up in this hell the guilt brings up memories. The short stories!

Damn you for making me listen to YES hippie shit, but thank you for the novel Keaton! Some of the stories, like the shark one, are better than others but the story tying them together was fun. I laughed many times. I had fun with this book. Podcast interview is coming. It will be about Shallow Ends. Not The Last Projector.