It takes a lot of guts to pin your first short story collection on a group of largely unsympathetic characters.
But that’s precisely what Kevin Fortuna has done in “The Dunning Man,” recently published by the New Orleans-based Lavender Ink.

And how did it turn out? Very, very well.

In this six story collection, featuring an eclectic cast of mostly Irish American and Irish characters, Fortuna takes us inside the minds of people we’ve probably all come across at some point but with whom we cautiously avoided making eye contact or extended conversation.

He is unafraid to dive head-first into characters who are less than standup – a guy self-medicating his way to meet a lady in Atlantic City while he convinces himself he’s better than everyone else on public transportation; a man helpless in the face of his locally powerful Hudson Valley clan and his track record for DUIs; an Iraq vet with violent but strangely moral impulses; a landlord who has no idea how to handle his tenants (who include a rap star, a tiger, Russian acrobats and a very crush-able blackjack-dealing mom).

Yet there’s (almost) always something oddly redeeming about these people – be it their complete transparency in spite of themselves or their utterly relatable belief that things can and will work out somehow, without you having to change anything about yourself.

Fortuna’s writing is fresh, intense, and intriguing, and “The Dunning Man” is a wonderfully bleary-eyed look at the contemporary Irish American experience. Don’t miss out.

Reason It's Hard To Quit Amazon Is Pretty Simple

In a piece at Slate, Shannon Palus takes note of two things about Amazon: A staggering 100 million people or so have Prime subscriptions, and yet more people seem to be canceling their subscriptions in protest.

The reason for the latter, as spelled out in Vox, is an apparent rising concern over labor issues and Amazon's monopolistic ways. But while Palus applauds those making a statement by ditching Prime, she's not about to cast judgment on those who won't.

"It’s simply not a step that everyone can take, and that’s not just because people are unwilling to forgo convenience," she writes. "It’s easy to forget, because everyone has to do it and it’s often pleasurable, but shopping is labor."

Prime, especially for those struggling to make ends meet, can be "a Band-Aid, helping them save money and time," writes Palus.

She talks to several people who explain why they don't feel they can give it up, including a young couple who have giant boxes of diapers delivered to their second-floor condo at a discount of 20%.

She suggests that people like this who still want to support the Amazon protests can cut back in smaller ways, like not taking part in additional services such as same-day delivery.

And they can also be vocal about their concerns. "Small actions, if broadcast to a social network and in turn, to politicians, can help spur that change."

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