I was introduced to this anthology in a writing course. While compulsory reading is seldom as enjoyable as elective reading, I found myself returning to this collection of short stories long after the course ended. Stuart Dybek's "Pet Milk", a warm and rich introspection on the transition from childhood to adulthood, got me hooked and I soon read every story in this collection. Anyone who enjoys good writing but struggles to find time to read, or who appreciates finely crafted short fiction will enjoy these short but interesting stories. Highly recommended.

I didn't want this book to end; the stories were so enjoyable. Some were so intense I had to reread them immediately. I would love to take a writing course to try emulating them or using them as inspiration. One complaint: like many of these anthologies the editors don't give a hint of what to expect. Stories are ordered alphabetically by author's last name, but curiously each leads to the next. This volume is much better than ones that try to pick the best story (or stories) of the year and more enlightening than single author collections.

This is a wonderful selection of contemporary short fiction featuring a variety of authors and points of view and a great diversity of subject matter. Stories deal with such varied topics as homosexuality, the Holocaust, Native American mysticism and small time crooks. Women writers are well represented. This collection features some very different choices, including a ghost story from Joyce Carol Oates.
This collection will prove an invaluable resource for budding writers and literature majors alike. This would also be a great primer for someone unfamiliar with the most contemporary short fiction.

A son is born too early, as if coming up over the horizon before his own dawn. An elderly father lingers at life's other horizon. In language dense and clear, playful and somber, and with a formal exactitude and emotional amplitude suggestive of his own musical training, Martone traverses these horizons with a musician's as well as a poet's ear.

Being from the midwest, this collection of meditative, lyric essays is particularly interesting to me. Martone's depth of sight and ability to stick on an image and draw connections here is fantastic. This is an exploration of windmills, farms and farming, mythology, the landscape itself, wire, and a number of other fab images. If you're a midwesterner, or are at all a fan of Martone's work, this is a must-read. Even if you're not from the midwest, this has lots for you. It's not parochial or podunk in any way; instead, it's a beautiful and serious treatment of so many things.

I was fortunate to catch Martone at a reading in Florida. It was great fun blending of reality and fiction, and as he said, when you don't have plot or character, you have to have humor. My favorite attractions include the Trans-Indiana Mayonnaise pipeline, the mount Etna active Volcano, and off course Eli Lilly Land ("Its a Prozac world"). The list is however incomplete, and I hope in future editions he will include the David Letterman weather station, where tapes of Letterman's early broadcasts are played 24 hours a day. There should be something to humor everyone in this book, and the cover is quite attractive - having been designed by the architect Michael Graves.

I picked up this book at a book festival not knowing anything about it - other than the fact that everyone around me was telling me to read it! Happy to find something in print about Indiana and as a fan of travel guides, I began to read. It's been a long while since I have laughed out loud at anything I have read and this book definitely made me laugh out loud. From "Our lady of big hair and feet" to the casket testing facility to Eli Lilly-land, I enjoyed this book immensely. Native Hoosiers and those new to the state will enjoy this light-hearted tour through our state.

Nothing interesting here at all. Very mundane, predicatble monologues. No interesting stories at all. Even the Dan Quayle stories fall flat. As boring as a Midwestern landscape.

"Seeing Eye" is a pleasant and provocative series of snapshot short stories from the perspective of many different people, all sharing the common thread of living among the corn fields and conservative urbanity of Indiana. For Fort Wayne natives, Michael chooses such familiar points of reference as Brateman's, Grand Leader, WOWO Radio, Bob Sievers, and even riding the Broadway Limited through Warsaw on the old Pennsy line. To prove Martone's popularity, I have the unique experience of meeting a woman on a train in New York State in 1994 who asked me what town in Indiana I was from. When she discovered I was from Fort Wayne, she asked me if I knew of an author named Martone. I calmly produced my autographed copy of "Fort Wayne is 7th on Hitler's List" and she exclaimed, "How did you get this? I don't even have this yet!" I had obtained it at the very first author signing party in Fort Wayne only 14 days before. The woman turned out to be Martone's self-proclaimed fan club founder from New York City! I had the priviledge of witnessing Michael's dramatic performances on stage at North Side High School 25 years ago. He was brilliant then. We both learned much from the same 9th grade English teacher, Margaret "Mom" Wiggs, to whom "Seeing Eye" is partly dedicated. My daughter just qualified for Honors English at North Side High. Here's hoping Michael left some of his aura in the "Dirty Dome" to be absorbed by her and other lucky readers of "Seeing Eye" -Charles F. Willer trolleycholley@yahoo.co