The Jokes
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About this ebook
Presented in the form of a most common present-tense—as a series of moments in a social-media-like 'feed'—this collection of very short stories riffs on the form of 'the joke,' but as this might be understood by the best culture-critical comedians of our time: Andy Kaufman, Stephen Wright, Norm McDonald, Jon Stewart, Richard Pryor. And much like those stand-up artists who sanctified the joke-form, these stories deal with sometimes-intense subjects, yet with a kind of SSRI-like placidity that allows readers to cling to each word as the narratives unfold.
In drawing comparisons to Lydia Davis's creatively detached but inventively curious writing, Thomas's The Jokes is a book for thinkers; sad and funny, hopeful and determined, nostalgic and cerebral, these vignettes offer a very personal, yet amazingly relatable entry-point into big ideas that trouble our times—religion, sexuality, life and death, and ways of being in the world—all while coloured by touches of weird otherworldliness that living in someone else’s social-media feed can bring.
Fans of metafiction and philosophy, 'alt lit,’ artist and academics (particularly students of art history and theory), readers interested in experimental and somewhat cerebral fiction in the vein of Ben Marcus, Lily Hoang, or Maggie Nelson, as well as audiences interested in the uses and abuses of Internet and social media, will connect with Thomas’s particular take on worlds within worlds.
Stephen Thomas
I am a writer, yogi, gardener, traveler, and lover of life. I have worked in ministry, drove ambulance in LA, worked in a mental hospital, and industry (the last two are really quite similar).
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The Jokes - Stephen Thomas
first edition
Copyright © Stephen Thomas, 2016
The production of this book was made possible through the generous assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council. BookThug also acknowledges the support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit and the Ontario Book Fund.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
library and archives canada cataloguing in publication
Thomas, Stephen, 1982-, author
The jokes : stories / Stephen Thomas.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
paperback: ISBN 978-1-77166-206-2
html: ISBN 978-1-77166-207-9
pdf: ISBN 978-1-77166-208-6
kindle: ISBN 978-1-77166-209-3
I. Title.
PS8639.H6J65 2016 C813’.6 C2016-901041-4 C2016-901042-2
Contents
One
Taken . . . 15
The fall . . . 16
One principle . . . 17
The snake . . . 19
Joined a band . . . 20
Beach sounds . . . 21
The miracle . . . 23
Jesus hernandez-browne . . . 24
Day . . . 25
A fine balance . . . 27
Visitation . . . 28
The fear . . . 29
A little story . . . 31
Flowers for grandma . . . 32
A simple country girl . . . 33
The balloon . . . 35
In the hagia sophia . . . 36
On this day in history . . . 37
Presidential graves . . . 39
Two
Two girls . . . 43
Beer . . . 44
Ethnic joke . . . 45
A hero of a tale . . . 47
Sandbox . . . 48
In the company of others . . . 49
The demon . . . 51
Very strong men . . . 52
The pressure at the bottom of the ocean . . . 53
Edward . . . 55
The voyage of monsieur ronflé . . . 56
Weekend . . . 57
A one and a two
The piercing . . . 61
Things . . . 62
The motives . . . 63
Tree
One path to the lake . . . 67
Extraordinary lives . . . 68
I can’t even remember . . . 69
The moon . . . 71
Fishing . . . 72
Mr. death . . . 73
The deep . . . 75
Lost at the zoo . . . 76
Coming of age . . . 77
Milestones
The wait . . . 81
In perpetuity . . . 82
The liffey . . . 83
The shiny metal bunny, pt. 1 . . . 85
The shiny metal bunny, pt. 2 . . . 86
The shiny metal bunny, pt. 3 . . .