September 9, 2004

All You Can Eat

When the Nines Roll Over

Reading is a lot like eating.

On occasion you hunker down for an epic repast, courtesy of Tolstoy, Faulkner, or Flaubert. But between meaty masterpieces you binge on empty-calorie lit that leaves you guilty, unfulfilled, and hungry for something substantial.

Prepare yourself for David Benioff, the absurdly talented writer who brought us The 25th Hour (book and screenplay) and Troy (screenplay). His latest collection of short stories, When the Nines Roll Over (And Other Stories) satisfies both types of literary cravings. Each tale is a bite-size morsel of articulate indulgence, fortified with bizarre but believable characters, eccentric plots, and a solid dose of humor. As his quirky protagonists fumble through a world they thought they knew, Benioff slips them deliciously astute observations: A former football star declares, “Nobody flees New Jersey for Pennsylvania.” An aspiring-actress-turned-Tinsel Town-cynic comments, “There aren’t enough Yeses to go around.” And an alienated subterranean paranoid observes, “Truth might be stranger than fiction, but it needs a better editor.”

Tempting, eh? Bet you can’t read just one.

Available online at amazon.com or at your local bookstore.