Books: Tadpoles

TADPOLES

BY JOSHUA BRITTON

Local author publishes short story collection examining the struggles of childhood and more

An Evansville transplant by way of Rochester, New York, local author Joshua Britton is first and foremost a heck of a musician - he holds a master's degree in trombone, FYI - often sitting in with area orchestras and groups. But about 10 years ago, the punk rock-loving parent started getting serious about his other passion: writing. "I began to study the craft and when I would read, I would read analytically," Britton explains. He also sought out advice from other writers and honed his technical skills, gaining the confidence necessary to create respected works of his own - short stories, primarily. The first draft of one of those stories, "Tadpoles," actually dates back to 2004, but it needed some polishing. Still, the central theme of the piece, children struggling with childhood, seemed to fit the mold of subsequent writing efforts - the bulk of them completed over the last five years - making for an obvious title of his first published collection.

Released via Bird Brain Publishing, Tadpoles finds Britton deftly exploring the challenges of youth "when everything is just so much more intense - time moves so much more slowly. A week or two when you're 12-years-old can seem like a lifechanging era." Being a father, he also delves into the complicated world of parenthood in such moving stories as "Not Leaving Without My Boy" and more emotionally peripheral pieces like "Last Caress." But Britton also gets deep and dark at times - "Befriending the Scum of the Earth" and "Unearthing" - summoning the uneasiness of Donna Tartt and black humor of Philip Roth, both authors serving as a noticeable influence on the 12 engaging stories that make up Tadpoles.

For more info, visit joshua-britton.com. Tadpoles is available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.