Soulmates and Other Stories

For those of you who read Webley .45, Simpson’s first collection of short stories, and have been waiting for more, Soulmates has arrived and does not disappoint. Simpson’s plots are devious, his characters real because they are struggling with their own good and evil intentions. His language is intimately descriptive, even poetic in places. The paternal grandfather: “a shriveled jackal of a man, regnant but warm, reached his mottled hands up, up to Arthur’s face, pulled him down, and kissed him on both cheeks;” The father: “his opinions crystalized instantly in the chill of his brain and rained down on Arthur in jagged pieces.” And the maternal grandfather: “musing over his relationship with his grandson, he saw a delicate symmetry to it, life’s beginning and end, beneficial to both, but fragile and fleeting.” Fleeting the book is not, however. Soulmates will stay with you for some time.