Thomas Jefferson's Prostate by Peter Cherches

 

Peter Cherches, Brooklyn born and bred

Thomas Jefferson's Prostate - Fourteen Peter Cherches poppers collected here along with Bonus Material in the form of four more fabulous microfictions taken from Peter's prior publications. Ah, Peter's prior publications - say that fast three times. By the way, great news: you can read this short electronic book by simply going to Thomas Jefferson's Prostate on Amazon and download free-of-charge from June 2-June 6.  Also, always free-of-charge at any time with Kindle unlimited membership.  

You'll be treated to the title piece where Peter is taking a piss and thinking he could write a book entitled Thomas Jefferson's Prostate. With such a title, his book will surely be a runaway best-seller. But wait. Should he write a book of history or fiction? Peter pictures Thomas Jefferson ready to embark on a round of pleasure with one of his house slaves, lovely sixteen-year-old Sally. But just then Jefferson realizes he has to take a piss. Such decisions. Such drama. And where does Jefferson take his piss, anyway? An outhouse? A chamber pot? And how exactly does his prostate figure in? Peter comes to his own realization, a perfect realization, that is, for a seasoned author of minimalist fiction. And what is this realization? Vintage Peter Cherches.

A Moot Point features a narrator, a guy by the name of Stanley, who has to deal with his girlfriend, Cindy, her dead dog, Victor, along with a taxidermist, Cindy's randy grandfather, Morris, and a gefilte fish masquerading as a duck. The outcome, not to mention the arc of plot, is anything but a moot point.

With Promising Young Composer Dies Bizarre Death, readers will be given multiple opportunities to laugh out loud. The composer in this microfiction is Andrew. Andrew's most remembered composition is “Afternoon of an Electric Toothbrush,” and Andrew's death will be the most remembered by the coroner since his death was as bizarre as it gets. Can you imagine having your flesh expertly carved away from your bone and then replaced on your frame? And to think, Andrew was just at the point where he was receiving recognition for his compositions. But, as we all know, and as Andrew's wife Judy certainly knows, recognition doesn't pay the rent.

As I've noted before in my other reviews of Peter Cherches' books, the humor we find will be offbeat frequently combined with such as farce, satire, screwball humor, eccentric humor, black humor, morbid humor, gallows humor, dry humor and/or deadpan humor. One thing's for sure: you can't go wrong with Peter's micros, since, with each of the fourteen Peter poppers peppering the pages, less is always more.

Allow me to conclude my Peter Cherches review with three Jacques Derrida quotes that came to mind while I was reading and reflecting on this collection. Here they are:

“If this work seems so threatening, this is because it isn't simply eccentric or strange, but competent, rigorously argued, and carrying conviction.”

“What cannot be said above all must not be silenced but written.”

“I speak only one language, and it is not my own.”

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