Pariah Tales by Jack Phillips Lowe Search Amazon for other books by or about Jack Phillips Lowe. Rating: Reviewed by: Maurice Williams

Jack Phillips Lowe's Pariah Tales is a collection of ten short works of prose ranging from about 630 to 4000 words per piece. Lowe displays a remarkable talent to capture a situation with a minimum of words, mostly dialogue between two people or a person thinking to himself. Some are short vignettes worded to set a scene or capture a mood. They are more like poems written as prose-different from what one would expect from, for example, a fiction story.

All ten are interesting and easy to read. They hold reader's attention, making the reader wonder "Where is this going?" "How is it going to end?" They all end with a punch line, usually something unexpected but something that makes the reader realize that the tale is finished. Each tale can be read at a single sitting.

There's food for thought in each tale. One very short tale "Green Tea' is a short conversation between a man and a woman where the reader realizes the unspoken relationship these two people have. Another describes the written notes found in a time capsule, discovered many years after they were written. Another describes a series of messages on a telephone answering machine cleverly worded so that the reader realizes the story behind the messages. Another describes, mainly through dialogue, an archaeological dig in Egypt with a surprise ending.

These are tales meant to create an impression, probably meant to make the reader think of deeper meanings and, of course, to entertain the reader. My only criticism is that some of the pieces lack substance. Lowe has the talent to say something important using very few words. I think his prose would find a wider audience if he chose to do so.

Pariah Tales is Lowe's third book. Some of the tales have appeared earlier in small press outlets: "Barbaric Yawp," "Open Wide," "Lucid Moon," and "Pulp and Dagger Fiction." The title word "Pariah" means an outcast, one despised by society. All of the tales fit into that category, tales about people somehow at the outer limit of human society. You will find Pariah Tales very interesting.