Here’s a riddle for you. What’s more fun than reading a short story by the droll and versatile Jon Wesick? Answer: reading a whole collection of ’em! In Antistories, Wesick fans will readily recognize his distinctive voice from the get-go, his riveting tongue-in-cheek locution, and familiar yet uproariously off-kilter brand of magical realism. Dragnet meets The Twilight Zone in “The Cashier Always Rings Twice,” and, yes, his titles, as well as the descriptive monikers of his characters, are Wesick’s zany modus operandi, adding a layer of mischievous intrigue. You may require a gourmand’s thesaurus as Wesick waxes scrumptiously on a dizzying array of exotic foods; his literary palette is sure to satisfy your palate. Each story has a different flavor, all of them chock full of rollick and frolic, complete with his trademark lists, twists, and occasional trysts—well, you get the gist. What you will encounter within the phantasmagoria of Antistories is a much-needed antidote to the not-so-comical times we are living in. Jon Wesick is indeed a storyteller’s storyteller, and if you do not find yourself chuckling mightily while reading these wholly entertaining and brilliant stories, then I’ll eat my (mad) hat.
—Cindy Hochman, editor-in-chief of First Literary Review-East

Jon Wesick's whimsical amusements are a welcome escape from the humdrum, twisting what we easily recognize into less familiar things that carry our imaginations away. They're definitely worth a read.
-Bob Heman, editor/publisher of CLWN WR

Jon Wesick's Antistories are, in fact, hilarious - but only on Jon's terms: His irony borders on semi-controlled hysteria - outrageous similes abound, conflicts beget even more outrageous conflicts. And, if you're looking for yet-to-be-imagined imagination here's your read.
—Roger Aplon, author of The Omnipotent Sorcerer, Editor and Publisher of Waymark - Voices of the Valley

Jon Wesick's short story collection Antistories is a cornucopia of fast-paced, madcap scenarios containing satirical themes. Detective Pillbottle shops for a bear named Ursula Fogbottom who requests broccoli among her long list of other foods in the comedic "The Cashier Always Rings Twice." Wesick's metaphorical genius is evident in Pillbottle's remark while shopping for broccoli: "The air smelled of fresh yoga mats and customers waited by a display case full of French macaroons in the colors of an Edward Munch painting and marzipan shaped like spacecraft from the Soyuz to the Falcon 9 launch vehicle." Wesick continues to entertain in the story "Wildcat," where he riffs satirically while characters from a plethora of authors are engaged in a riot (conflict in fiction), where Oedipus, Jay Gatsby, Hester Prynne, James Bond and Emma Bovary are victims of a question Wesick poses earlier in this story: "Why did readers enjoy the suffering of others?" or "Would deciphering an alien language without some rogue general threatening interstellar genocide still interest a reader?" In my experience reading several publications of Wesick he never fails to elicit laughs as well as demonstrate irony and satire which is not always seen in conventional writing. He is the antithesis of conventional and that is what is remarkable about his writing.
—Linda Bratcher Wlodyka, author of If Brambles Were Bookends Collected Poems

Jon’s stories are about the people who are ignored, unloved, and sadly doomed. Through dialogue, Jon depicts the absurd as commonplace. One example is an excerpt from the opening dialogue in his story, Notes on Fiction.

“What can I do for you, today?” The travel agent ….

“I need to get away.” A customer …. “Work is exhausting, …. Hey, that looks nice!”

He pointed to a poster.

“Yes, it’s part of an all-included holiday. We throw you off a cliff, .…”

“That doesn’t sound like fun.”

“Really? It’s gotten great reviews.

Like the Twilight Zone, this collection chronicles the trials of the lost, whose daily problems expose their longing for dignity. This collection of short stories is an enjoyable, quirky, and insightful read.
—Joseph Milosch, author of A Walk with Breast Cancer and Home Plate Was the Heart

Antistories
by Jon Wesick
$21.95, paperback, 246 pp
ISBN-13:  978-1-968422-13-4

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