CivilWarLand in Bad Decline

This collection of stories is from the mid 1990s, well before the time when Saunders turned to writing and teaching and before terms such as slipstream and interstitial literature came into vogue. They are the kind of stories with the quirkiness turned up all the way, with hapless characters in ridiculous situations driven to desperate acts. He is fond of introducing side characters who make wild speeches and carry out heinous acts over a page or two, then disappear from the rest of the story (a strategy I'm tempted to steal myself). Sometimes I felt that the twist he arranges at the end of the story didn't seem fully earned, telegraphed by the makeup of the characters or their predicament. The first inklings of a coming talent, these strange and rough little pieces, are worth spending time with, at least for a glimpse of what might come.