Goings On, by Zach Docter

Prose, chapbook, 28 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

In Zach Docter’s story collection, Goings On, you will find nonexistent historical figures, plastic war heroes, restaurant patrons who won’t leave, and relationships so contemptuous, mutual assured destruction is required to keep the peace. Written in an abstract and irreverent style halfway between poetry and prose, these stories are unapologetic, biting, and engaging till the end.

Two of these stories appeared previously in Brushfire Literature and Arts Journal, a literary magazine run by the students of the University of Reno, Nevada English Department. The other eight stories are published here for the first time. These stories deal primarily with odd situations pushed to their logical conclusion. The characters, when there are characters, are archetypes, stand ins for an attitude or a particular type of personality, a type easily recognizable but difficult to describe. This is an apt description for the collection as a whole, a collection of easily recognizable situations with a bit of a slant.

Zach Docter is a writer and composer from Los Angeles, California. His work has been featured in Jokes Review and Brushfire Journal and his debut short story collection, The Great Pyramid and Other Stories, was released in June 2022 by Curious Curls Publishing. His novella, The Nothing Campaign, was released by Jokes Review in July 2023.