Act Normal, a new collection of twelve stories from Greg Hollingshead, is scheduled to appear on the twentieth anniversary of the publication of his award-winning collection The Roaring Girl. These are contemporary stories about people doing their best to connect in a mad world. “The Amazing Insult,” a blow to the head in a boating accident increases a woman’s intelligence and alters her sexual orientation. “The Retreat”: a man flees a rural meditation retreat for a highway bar, where he tries to get to know a stripper. “Unbounded”: a woman has her fence taken down by a carpenter too depressed to build her a new one. “The Force of the World”: a boy discovers more than he is ready to know at the site of the family’s flooded vacation trailer. “Night Dreams of the Wise”: a man sleeping with the wife of the British defence secretary learns to stop doing foolish things. “Miss Buffett”: a cleric is haunted by the revenant of a member of his diocese. “Sense of an Ending”: a woman has difficulty understanding her husband’s family. “The Drug-Friendly House”: a man attempts to befriend a woman whose house has been described by the neighbourhood association as “drug friendly.” “Fist Fight at the Orgy”: a man goes on a picnic with his best friend’s lover, who is also the younger sister of the girl he himself loved as an adolescent.
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