J.Jason Graff. Spectrum Light: A Collection of Short Stories. Himal Yana Publishing, 2007. $10.00.
Spectrum Light is a small collection of eleven stories that range in genre from “short, short fiction, to magical realism, to traditional storytelling, all the way to experimental” according to the author (preface). Within these varying styles, Graff tends to investigate the average human’s reaction to extreme situations set within traditional settings often with a touch of magic. There is no theme or reoccurring characters in his work. The stories are simply quick excerpts – no story is longer than sixteen pages – into the worlds of these characters; characters who could be our neighbor, friend, or self. The strength of Graff’s work is his ability to create complicated and thought-provoking characters, which all live in the shadows of the choices of their lives.
In order to gain the best sense of the collection, I believe an introduction to some of the most interesting characters would be helpful. Arguably, one of the best characters in the collection is evangelical pastor, Mr. Haywood T. Brimstone, who travels the southern states in an effort to get discovered so he can become a televised evangelist. The irony of Haywood’s character begins to unfold as his questionable reputation is revealed; “he used to sell Electralux Vacuums…used cars at Bill and Bob’s Crash and Save, then life insurance, furniture, TVs, and… pornography videos from the trunk of his car” (36). The beauty of a porn-selling-preacher is priceless and only topped by the fact that Haywood’s most prized possession – “his four-inch, 24-carat-golden-Jesus-being-crucified-cross” that he wears while he preaches – was purchased by selling twenty-seven full trunk loads of porn (37)! “A Sermon Like Never Before” takes an even greater twist when Haywood preaches so hard that he spontaneously combusts. By the time this occurs, the reader is so involved in the Mississippi “Gawd-fearing” sermon that is being delivered the combustion is believable. Graff’s likes to pepper little twists like this into his stories which add an enjoyable, magical dimension.
In “Dumb Ole Jimmy’s Last Stand”, Graff bends toward the more traditional storytelling style, and in seven short pages he is able to entangle a professor, a reverend, and a sheriff in the hit-and-run cover-up of Jimmy’s death. The sins of each of these men motivate the conspiracy: the professor is guilty of drunk driving, the sheriff is enroute home after sleeping with his mistress, and the most interesting is the reverend’s desire to keep his past a secret. The professor recognizes Reverend Roy “as none other than Rod Lonehorn of the Butt Romp Circus on Capitol hill, which Warhol (the professor) saw many times and ended up with the Rev three or four times after the show, all greased up like chilidogs” (58). As you can tell, Graff doesn’t have any issue with peeling back and exposing the underbelly of his characters along with the details of their sins. It seems that this exposure is what aids the believability of the characters and draws the reader to them even when they are not likeable.
Graff also creates some more endearing characters in “Forgetting All That” and “Untitled.” Both of these stories reveal the inner thoughts, dreams, and dreads of the characters. Merle is the first person the reader is introduced to in Spectrum Light; he is an older veteran on vacation with his wife, Milly, who has tired of the repeated ramblings of his time in the service. Aside from a few physical features, not much is revealed about Merle’s personage until he decides to go swimming in the ocean. Merle ventures out too far and is overtaken by a wave pinning him beneath the surface. While he was underwater, Merle “wished he could be back right beside Milly to tell her he was sorry for all of it, all of the bickering, all of the drunken rage, all of the innocent bodies piled into mass graves” (2). In one sentence, Graff captures Merle’s demons, judges the inhumanities of war, and offers redemption just by expressing the thought. After his rescue, Merle muses over the lifeguard’s seeming immortality; he (the lifeguard) “could not see the fragility of his own life, it being hidden from him just as Merle’s happiness had remained stubbornly hidden for most of his life” (3). The familiarity of Merle makes him likeable, so likeable that you can’t even become angry at him when he doesn’t share any of his feelings with Milly, but rather returns to the habits of their thirty-year marriage. This lack of change continues the complexity of this character and deepens his familiarity.
Our tendency to imagine the worst is captured in Graff’s “Untitled.” Walt is a mountain recluse whose friend, Larry, comes to visit. The differences in the men were: Larry fat, Walt fit; Larry still parties, Walt cringes at party memories; Larry doesn’t understand Walt’s new life, Walt understands Larry’s confusion. The story’s twist involves the purpose of Larry’s visit and the misconceptions each man imagines about what the other will say. Each time Larry attempts to share the purpose of his visit with Walt, he is cut off by his friend and Walt redirects the conversation to something else. The love and bond the friends have for one another causes them to jump to erroneous conclusions; Walt imagines his friend has come to spend his final days on the mountain in peace, and Larry imagines that Walt cannot face his own impending demise which is why he won’t allow Larry to leave. In true Lucy-Ricardo-fashion, both men prove to be premature in reducing the others’ life expectancy. Larry’s situation winds up merely being a car stuck in the mud. The quirky ending reminds us that we have all jumped to the wrong conclusions from time to time, and while this leap ends with a chuckle, how many of our own jumps have ended poorly?
These characters are only a snippet of what Spectrum Light offers. Graff’s more unconventional pieces simply need to be experienced: there is a town blessed by garlic, four high school friends enticed by an older (implied vampire) woman, a dying crack addict, a treasured piece of coconut, a woman ruled by the number eight, and a young man who challenges then hits on his professor.
While Spectrum Light comments on “social and environmental issues,” the messages avoid being pedantic because Graff typically introduces them through the character’s flaws (cover). The humanness of the characters is the appeal of this collection. While none of the stories are particularly exceptional, the whole of the work is thought-provoking and interesting. The diversity in genre offers readers stories they will find comfortable and others they will find challenging; both will prove worth the read.
