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Tuesday, August 24, 2010
title: The Girl Made of Cool
author: Alan Fox
published: 2010
pages: 218
genre: fiction/ short story/ romance
first line: Our universe is one of those things that happens from time to time-in the span of eternity.
rated: 3 1/2 out of 5
In the The Girl Made of Cool, Ridley goes on a first date with Jayne, and though he feels it is love at first sight, Jayne feels differently. Jayne is intelligent and beautiful, and she also knows it. Ridley is more the good guy type, he's sensitive and shy.
Ridley goes to his roommate Chet for dating advice.
Chet is a playboy, he wants to make sure he sleeps with at least 25 women by age 25.
He's a smooth talker, he's seductive and he ruthlessly goes after women.
Soon enough a thought enters Chet's head, he decides he wants to seduce the beautiful Jayne himself.
Here is where the love triangle forms. Ridley finds out about the two lovebirds and is brokenhearted. Despite everything, he tries to put on a happy face, even though he has to see the two of them together. He decides to be Jayne's friend, but his feelings for her are still there.
As the story flows, Riley decides he loves Jayne too much not to fight for her.
This story was different from anything I've read before. First off, it's written in mostly dialogue form. It's also set up like a script, with each section starting with the time and setting being described.
Ridley's New State of Being
Walking alone along the boulevard of broken dreams
Several Days Later
Chet and Ridley's Living Room, a Bright Afternoon
I enjoyed reading The Girl Made of Cool. The most interesting part for me was trying to figure out who would get the girl. I hoped Ridley would, and I was surprised he didn't knock Chet's lights out for making a move on Jayne to begin with.
One thing I didn't like too much was the script style setup, I found that a bit distracting for some reason.
However, there was some great writing in this story, and I smiled as I read a few of the passages. I can picture this short story being made into a movie.
Here's a few of my favorite tidbits:
At times, the sexes get cross with one another.
They fancy one another, get cross, and then fancy again.
Or they fancy one another, get cross, and never speak again.
What we know about how it all works is very slender.
"But I realized something important...Sometimes the moments that you want...don't come in the ways you expect...Unprepared perfect can happen all the time. All around you...Isn't that a beautiful thought."
Everything reminded him of her and everything made him think of her. Walking made him think of her. Sitting made him think of her. Not thinking of her made him think of her. Thinking of anybody or anything in the world made him think of her.
Also included in this book are two other short stories, Hell Has Blue Skies and The Lovely lady at the Love Museum.
In the former story, Jack and Kate meet at the office. They are instantly attracted to each other, but after trying to keep it platonic, they wind up getting together anyway. Office politics soon surface. This one was a very short story, it was a fast read, and I liked it.
I also enjoyed the latter, even shorter story. Reed is an anthropologist who is studying the 'art of oneupmanship' and the gaining of territory. He finds a rotten and rich NYC tycoon and sells him an idea of re-doing the Museum of Anthropology and calling it The Love Museum.
Special thanks to Alan Fox for sending me a copy of his book.
About the author:
Alan Fox is the author of two books of love stories. His fiction writing has garnered enthusiastic reviews across numerous publications and online outlets including: BlogCritics.org, “The Electric Review,” “Midwest Book Review,” “Roundtable Reviews,” “Slug Magazine” and others.
Fox himself has been featured as an expert source on the business uses of storytelling by "The Chicago Tribune"/Tribune Media Services, "Entrepreneur Magazine," "Chief Learning Officer Magazine," and other leading print media. In addition, he has appeared on numerous radio stations across the country to discuss storytelling skills and effective presentation techniques for business people.
He lives in New York City, where he operates a consulting business as a recognized public relations expert — with more than 15 years of experience in using story-driven PR programs to help build businesses and brands. His career clients have included: DreamWorks Home Entertainment, HarperCollins, Harvard Business Press, Hilton Hotels, McGraw-Hill, Penguin/Portfolio, TIME Magazine, Warner Home Video, Wiley/Jossey-Bass, and many other leading companies.
