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Lou Gaglia is the author of Poor Advice and Other Stories (Spring to Mountain Press, 2015). His fiction has appeared in Menda City Review, Main Street Rag, Eclectica, Per Contra, Waccamaw Journal, and elsewhere. He is a long-time teacher and T’ai Chi Ch’uan practitioner—first in New York City and now in upstate New York. Visit him at www.lougagtcc.wordpress.com
Reviewed by Bobbie Grob for Readers' Favorite
Poor Advice and Other Stories is a fantastic book of short stories written by Lou Gaglia. I would call these stories "short shorts", as most of them are only a few pages long, making them very easy to read. The stories run the gamut from funny to sweet to weird to complex, and the cast of characters is delightful. From the carpet cleaner with a grudge to a young man making a trek to Rome to forget a lost love, to a Russian spy and an American priest, these stories and their characters will keep readers entertained.
Although I enjoy short stories I do prefer novels, so I generally read short stories by Stephen King or some other author whose work I know I'll enjoy. I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked up Poor Advice and Other Stories by Lou Gaglia, but the title was so intriguing, I had to give it a chance. As soon as I started reading Hands, which is a letter to a cashier by her long-suffering secret admirer, I was hooked. The writing is beautiful, the characters are complex - something that is difficult for an author to achieve with only a few pages - and best of all, the voice in each story is unique.
So often, a book of short stories ends up sounding like the same story over and over again. Not here. Lou Gaglia is really an excellent story teller. There were one or two stories that I did not care for, but that's to be expected when the stories are so varied, and so many. I would certainly suggest Poor Advice and Other Stories to others, and I will be looking for more of Lou Gaglia's work.
