While She Was Out
by Edward Bryant
Wormhole Books $12.00 (Chapbook)

Yes, I've been in a small press mood for a while now. I always enjoy seeing what lovely little packages small press publishers produce, and I never tire of bringing them to people's attention. It was my sacred duty to mention at least one small press offering in every issue of BookLovers. Lately, I've been impressed by relatively new press Wormhole Books and their line of colorful, well-designed chapbooks. Publishers Dawn and Chris Dunn have created a surprisingly consistent quality product, bringing together some great authors (and their classic stories) and excellent cover art. 

This second chapbook featuring a classic tale by author and critic Edward Bryant, catches your eye first with its fine pulp-era cover painting by artist Joanna Erbach. I wanted to frame it as much as I wanted to frame the pseudo-Hopper of the previous Ed Bryant chapbook (see my review above). 

"While She Was Out" may have been much-anthologized, but it's such a great story ("tough but sensitive," as Bryant quotes in his Afterword), that you can't go wrong holding it your hand as a self-contained book. It's deceptively simple, but certainly enters noir territory quickly after Della leaves her slobby husband to make a late-night, pre-Christmas trip to the mall. That Della's unhappy is immediately obvious, but when a parking lot incident forces a bit of frustrated anger out of her, it sets off a chain of events that - like real life - no one could predict. Thrust into a survival situation out of the bleakest vision of urban America you can imagine, Della turns out actually pretty resourceful, and you can almost taste the sea-change in her attitude. The twists come fast and strong.

Enough of the story, because if you haven't read it I don't want to spoil it, but let me say a word about Ed Bryant's prose. It's perfect. Every word belongs. Every image does its job. Every nuance is there. Please, Ed Bryant, if you have a noir novel in a drawer somewhere, get it out. It could be nothing but perfect.

Labeled "Wormhole Vintage" and featuring also photography by Ed Bryant himself, this chapbook is rounded off by the author's afterword and a Bryant biography written by the editor. It might well make the perfect stocking-stuffer (any time of year) for your favorite noir fan.