shortshortshort.com, Jan/Feb 2008

In “One,” the first shortshortshort.com story of January, 2008, Bruce Holland Rogers presents a video game with a purpose greater than simple entertainment. While this idea has been used before, for instance in the 1984 film, The Last Starfighter, in “One,” Rogers is trying to set the stage for something more complex than simply finding a warrior. Told from the point of view of a Christian pastor, Rogers shows the concerns parents have over video games and the pastor’s own coming to terms with the game as a potential means of growth for his sons. His difficulties begin when he realizes that the lessons the game is teaching his children may not match entirely with the teachings he tries to inculcate into them as a pastor. In this short piece, Rogers carefully presents the direction to a possibly utopian society while not denigrating those whose opinions on what makes a utopia differ.

“Property” is a collection of three vignettes showing what different beings mean when they think of property—whether it’s the ownership of physical things by Utley, the benevolent ownership of a pet by June, or the ownership through conquest by a cat. The story simply presents the different ways in which the word is used and allows readers to draw their own inferences as to whether any of the forms of property are better or more natural than others.

On the surface, gossip is the topic of “Other People’s Stories,” but in reality, this story is about the manner in which people filter information. Hank Schnapp has always been aware of the stories people tell about other people, but he has generally ignored them as not having anything to do with him. However, Rogers draws the distinction between idle gossip and gossip which can harm an individual, although Schnapp is not entirely sure how he knows the difference, just that at times the gossip he hears forces him to act. While gossip is often derided, it is an entirely human activity and one which will never be eradicated, but in “Other People’s Stories,” Rogers creates a character who understands how to use gossip for the best possible purpose.

“We Have Every Reason to Be Confident” is set in the midst of a presidential election, although it is not specifically about the current election or any of the candidates who have been running or continue to seek the country’s highest office. Instead, it is a look at the way campaigns attempt to control expectations of how they are going to do in various states and later make excuses for not doing as well as expected. All of the candidates do this sort of management of expectations until they eventually win or drop out of the race. Rogers has simply removed the time lag and combined all the statements into a single page, similar to what Jon Stewart does on The Daily Show when politicians are caught reversing themselves.

“Rabbit’s Plan” is an Aesopian fable, although Rogers trusts the reader to be able to supply his own moral. It is the story of Rabbit, who has been selected to be the first to be eaten by Mountain Lion as part of a tribute scheme that Mountain Lion has come up with to save himself the trouble of hunting and the animals the anxiety of being potential prey. While the story and moral are telegraphed, the enjoyment from the piece comes from the manner in which Rogers depicts the animals as they go about their business. In some ways, however, “Rabbit’s Plan” can (and should?) be read back to back with Rogers’s earlier “Other People’s Stories.”

There is something almost Kafkaesque about “Donat Bobet Recovers His Wallet.” The title character is a poet who has a tendency of losing his wallet in the same place with great frequency, almost, it would appear, as a form of performance art. The story, and the character of Donat Bobet, is appealing in a quirky manner for his way of viewing and moving through the world, especially as seen through the eyes of the narrator, a friend who is intent on making sure that there is someone to take Bobet seriously and help provide for his needs, both financial and emotional.