Paul Luikart’s The Realm of the Dog is a collection of stories. Masterfully written portraits of life; the mundane, the dangerous, the stark light of revelation, the dead and dying, hatred, love, and laughter. Each story offers a glimpse into the American Condition. Some gazing into the abyss, others adrift, forgotten, down and out in the underbelly of America, lost souls searching for a glimmer of redemption in a world gone mad. ”The Realm of the Dog” is an unflinching exploration of the chaos, beauty, and despair of everyday life, a relentless examination of humanity in all its flawed glory. The prose crackles with electricity, capturing the frenetic energy of a world on the brink. It dares you to dive headfirst into the maelstrom, to laugh in the face of despair, and to find beauty in the wreckage.

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I always enjoy anything in the realm of an anthology or collection of short fiction, even though they can sometimes be hit or miss, they are almost always enjoyable. I really enjoyed that this collection had a wide range of lengths and subject matter. A lot of them felt like vignettes and were very free form in a lot of ways. There is an evolution or progression as you read through the stories, some of the subject matter devolving in a way, like a descent. It is definitely a journey, which was something that I really found interesting and was fully immersed in.

Happy reading!