After Kevin Wilson's most recent novel NOTHING TO SEE HERE worked its peculiar charms on me, I found myself thinking, oh my god, where did this Kevin Wilson person come from? And now I know. Here he is, shining forth in his first collection, published in 2009 and soon to be republished by Ecco in September 2020. Or maybe I should say, "bursting forth" or even "exploding forth," because there is a story here even in this first collection, a decade before Nothing to See Here, that has people spontaneously combusting in it. Unlike in Wilson's recent novel, the combusting people blow up without any warning flames flaming up beforehand. They just go boom, in the story “Blowing Up on the Spot." There are other body horrors in the other stories, and these are just as charming, and I really do mean "charming," because the explosive transformations that happen to Wilson's characters always seem a little on the light-hearted side even when they end in death.

It's hard to say what I would have thought about these stories without coming to them back through time, via Nothing to See Here. I can't imagine it because the novel had a big impact on me. But as 'origin stories' of Wilson's proclivities, hangups, and obsessions, I loved these stories.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ecco for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Wow, what a wonderfully weird little collection of stories.
I read Wilson’s ‘Nothing to See Here’ earlier this year and absolutely loved it. He was able to make something so out of the realm of possibility seem like a normal, everyday problem.
I felt the same way reading ‘Tunneling to the Center of the Earth’.
Some standouts for me:
The Grand Stand-in which explores the moral implications of a program that literally rents grandparents to families.
Blowing Up on the Spot is about Leonard, a man who works at a scrabble factory and consistently fears he may spontaneously combust (how his parents died).
Worst-Case Scenario ends the collection. It’s a hopeful story, despite the characters’ obsession with, you guessed it, the worst case scenario.

I can’t wait to see what Wilson does next!

Like Wilson’s recent novel, Nothing to See Here, these short stories had really good parts along with some weird stuff. He seems to have a strange fascination with people or things spontaneously combusting and also putting his characters in outlandish situations, i.e. Blowing Up on the Spot, The Choir Director Affair and the title story, Tunneling. These weird parts of his stories are actually what I like the least. Where I think this author truly hits the mark is with his stories that focus on normal people dealing with normal crap. Particular highlights were The Dead Sister Handbook, Mortal Kombat and Go, Fight, Win - all stories with teenage main characters and all great. I would have rated it higher if the other stories were more like these.
Thanks to #netgalley and #harpercollins for this ARC of #tunnelingtothecenteroftheearth

This is a reissue of Kevin Wilson's first book of short stories. This is really a fantastic collection. The premises for the stories are all really creative. In a new intro to the collection, Wilson writes that all of these stories began with an obsession that he couldn't shake. It makes sense; the worlds he creates are so engaging, you can believe he simply had to sit down and tease them out with a story.

If you're a fan of his recent book "Nothing to See Here," you'll be happy to learn that spontaneous combustion was a topic on his mind long before that novel.

These stories are really funny (recall his hilarious novel "The Family Fang") and beautifully written. One line has really stuck with me "Don't you see? The things we once loved do not change, only our belief in them."

Wilson is tremendous. If you like short stories, get it.

Netgalley sent me a copy of the ebook in return for a review.

Author Kevin Wilson is a professor in the English department of a southern university. That certain slant that distinguishes Southern fiction is even more askew in these stories. Perhaps we have another sub genre here, Southern weird? It works to perfection . Fans of Wilson's novels will read these stories and imagine how each could have grown into a full length book. His students surely must be both dazzled and inspired. It's not often that a writer's early stories are as consistently satisfying as these.

A delightfully surreal collection of stories. Rent-a-grannies, scrabble tile sorting combined with spontaneous combustion, and a trio of friends digging an underground tunnel system beneath their town in lieu of finding jobs. This book was an absolutely joy to read. Kevin Wilson’s writing is witty, incisive and hilarious. I am stunned time by his ability to write compelling female characters, this is, in my opinion, a rarity in male writers. The combination of Wilson’s acerbic take on the world and his imagination for fun and bizarre stories will entertain you for far too little time, because you’ll have blazed through this book in a moment, wishing that you could begin again. At least that’s how I felt. Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC they provided me with, what a treat!

I raced through TUNNELING TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH this past weekend - the first fiction that has caught my attention in what feels like a really long time. Most of the stories were just the right amount of strange for me. I especially enjoyed “Grand Stand-In,” “The Museum of Whatnot,” and the titular story. But “Go, Fight, Win” was disturbing on a visceral level and made me very uncomfortable.

Still, I really enjoyed this collection overall and I’m glad it’s being re-released in September. I can see the trajectory from this collection to NOTHING TO SEE HERE, which I absolutely loved. Can’t wait for more new fiction from Wilson!

Kevin Wilson‘s debut collection of 11 short stories, “Tunneling to the Center of the Earth” (originally published in 2009 but to be back in print this September), is a master class on how to write short stories.

Wilson, who teaches English and creative writing at Sewanee: The University of the South, is an expert at the form.

“With my students, when I talk about novels and short stories, I tell them that writing a novel is like buying a car, thanks to a very reasonable loan, and taking that car on a long trip and feeling this sense of peace that you’re heading somewhere, but you’re not there yet,” Wilson writes in the book’s introduction. “But short stories, for me, are like stealing a car, driving it as fast as you can, and crashing it into a tree, knowing you were always going to that very thing. And then you crawl out of that car, which is now mangled and smoking, and you realize that you aren’t dead, that you’re still alive. And you look at the car, and it’s beautiful. And you walk away.”

Wilson makes crashing a car look very easy — like it’s something anyone can do. As if anyone can be that deliberately fearless — recording one’s darkest flaws on paper and presenting them in such a way that everyone can see.

If you follow the Kevin Wilson formula for short story writing, start with a weird, quirky character. Like the sensitive boy in Wilson’s short story “The Dead Sister Handbook: A Guide for Sensitive Boys.”

Or Penny — the quiet, pretty blonde 16-year-old cheerleader who would prefer to build toy model cars and to kiss a 12-year-old boy than to hang out with football players and cheerleaders her own age — the heroine in the short story “Go, Fight, Win.”

Or Wynn and Scotty of the story “Mortal Kombat” (titled after the gruesome fighting game). The boys are social outcasts who spend every lunch of high school together studying potential quiz bowl questions until an awkward kiss between the best friends changes things.

If you have trouble dreaming up a character, start with a job that defines the character.

Perhaps she’s a woman who gets paid to pretend to be a grandmother to multiple families like the woman who answers to Gammy, MeeMaw, Grandma Helen and Mimi in the story “Grand Stand-In.”

Or maybe she’s the curator to a museum of junk like the thirty-something in the story “The Museum of Whatnot.”

Or perhaps he’s the guy who gets paid to predict the bad things that could possible happen like the dude in the story “Worst-Case Scenario.”

Or maybe the guy’s job is to shoot himself in the face at a traveling carnival like in “The Shooting Man.”

Or his job could be sorting and count tiles in a Scrabble factory, like the guy in “Blowing Up on the Spot.”

If you can’t think of a job, what happens when a character doesn’t have a job. That’s the premise to the short story, “Tunneling to the Center of the Earth,” which is what happens the summer after three friends with meaningless college degrees graduate.

Now that you have selected your driver, crash the car. Think of a situation. Create tension and conflict. Spontaneously combust. Shoot yourself in the face. Kiss your best friend. Or kiss the much younger kid next door. Get away with murder.

And then leave.

You just changed a character’s life. And don’t have to deal with the consequences.

That’s the beauty in writing fiction and “Tunneling to the Center of the Earth.” And that’s why this delightfully charming collection of short stories is so fun to read.

Disclaimer: I received a free eARC of “Tunneling to the Center of the Earth” from NetGalley and Ecco in exchange for this honest review.

Really funny short stories where you can see Wilson was working out some of the ideas that ended up in Nothing to See Here.

Stories of amazing versatility and originality. One reviewer said he chose to read one story a day so they would last longer and he could savor each. I agree except that I had to gobble them up, they were that tasty. He incorporates some of his favorite themes such as self immolation and performance art, further explored in his longer works.

A quirky set of stories sure to please Kevin Wilson fans. This appears as far as I can see to be a reissue from 2009. I am sure related to the author's recent successes over the past number of books.

I don't think this is Mr Wilson's best work. I have read his other books, The Family Fang & Nothing to See Here and LOVED them. I know he writes quirky-somewhat-bizarro, which I love. But, many of these stories seemed unfinished and ended abruptly. The best story was the first one. But, no other writer can pull off what Mr Wilson does-people combusting-with no explanation? It's a talent.
I am giivng this book 2 stars for uniqueness and originality but, he cannot survive on uniqueness alone. There needs to be some substance and this book lacks substance.
Thank you Netgalley & Harper Perennial for the opportunity to review this book.

Let's start by saying I don't usually like short stories they're just too...short. But I adore Kevin Wilson and due to the fact that I recently discovered him for myself thanks to Nothing to See Here, combined with the new release of this collection I'm now reading these short stories for the first time and I love them as much as I thought that I would. I also LOVE the new cover so much better than the original, and the intro from Kevin. It makes me sad that I'm too old to go to the young writers conference, but now I have a new dream for my children so that I can live vicariously through them. I'm looking forward to the release of this addition so that I can put it on my shelves. Thanks net galley for giving me another opportunity to love Kevin Wilson.

Tunneling to the Center of the Earth: Stories is a collection of unusual stories that kept me turn-ing the page. I loved each but was particulary drawn to “Grand Stand-In” and “The Museum of Whatnot.” The stories aren’t what you expect and that’s what makes them so charming and fun.

Kevin Wilson's writing is always imaginative and unique and his short stories offer glimpses into his level of creativity. Wilson has the incredible ability to connect everyday life and surreal situations, forcing his readers to place themselves in places and positions they couldn't dream of. Tunneling to the Center of the Earth is yet another spectacular collection of Wilson's short stories and is a welcome exploration into human existence.

Not a weak story in the collection, which is especially amazing given that this is the author's early work! I liked seeing some of the same themes and ideas that appear in the author's novels.

Tunneling to the Center of the Earth is a short story collection being re-released this year. Kevin Wilson's writing is so weird and wonderful. . I normally don't even like reading short stories, but I picked this up because I was enchanted by Family Fang earlier this year. These little stories are absurdly delightful. Like the first story, Grand Stand-In, about a woman who is a grandparent for hire. We also get a story with a human combustion element (one of WIlson's favorite topics) with Blowing Up on the Spot, about a man whose parents spontaneously combusted. He works in a Scrabble tile factory, and his job is to gather Qs. See? Weird and wonderful. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

Having loved Kevin Wilson's most recent novel Nothing to See Here, I was excited when I received this older short story collection of his. It was first published in 2009 and is being rereleased this fall.

Kevin Wilson loves writing of the strange. I usually enjoy that. Some of these short stories, like the opening one Grand Stand-In, about a grandmother for hire and the title story, Tunneling to the Center of the Earth, is wonderful and strange and no one does this better. Some of these stories, however, were either just too weird for even me or not great. Wilson is a wonderful writer with a fabulous imagination and I can't wait to read more of his backlist. If you haven't, definitely check out Nothing to See Here and some of these short stories.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy.

Less than a year ago, I read Kevin Wilson’s Nothing to See Here and was mesmerized by his ability to spin such a strange story, something so outside the realm of my typical reads, but one that hooked me from the beginning to the end. So when I saw that this new book by him, a collection of stories, I knew I was in for a treat.

To give you a taste, this is what he has to say about writing short stories in the Introduction:

”But short stories, for me, are like stealing a car, driving it as fast as you can, and crashing it into a tree, knowing you were always going to do that very thing. And then you crawl out of the car, which is now mangled and smoking, and you realize that you aren’t dead, that you’re still alive. And you look at the car, and it’s beautiful. And you walk away.”

Grand Stand-In is the first story in this collection, a story about a woman who plays a substitute grandmother to families who are trying to fill a hole in their family, either due to a loss, or they’d prefer a substitute to the real thing, someone more grandmotherly.

Blowing Up on the Spot is about a man named Leonard who works in a Scrabble factory, and has a brother who is suicidal, while at the same time trying to pursue a romance with the girl who works in the candy shop. Oh, yes, and he’s also concerned about spontaneously combusting since this is how his parents died.

Birds in the House was strange (of course) and wonderful. A story about a family, and the four men in this family, one will inherit the estate, a somewhat no-longer-in-its-prime antebellum home along with various stocks and bonds. The grandson, a teenager, must observe the contest – the folding of 1,000 cranes, 250 for each one, which will be each marked by the folder to distinguish each brother’s collection from another’s, and then all will be placed on the table. A thousand cranes that signify happiness and a long life for those who make them in the Japanese culture, where their mother was from. The mother / grandmother’s wish, in the hopes that this would somehow bring them back together, and that they would reconcile their grievances. The decision being made by which crane is left after all is said and done.

The remaining stories: Mortal Kombat; Tunneling to the Center of the Earth; The Shooting Man; The Choir Director Affair; Go, Fight, Win; The Museum of Whatnot; Worst-Case Scenario - all these stories have one thing in common. They are all weirdly wonderful, written with an ingeniously twisted wittiness that kept me turning page after page.



Pub Date: 01 Sept 2020

Many thanks for the ARC provided by HarperCollins Publishers / Ecco

By way of introducing the new edition of <i>Tunneling to the Center of the Earth</i>, a short fiction collection re-released a little more than a decade after its debut, author Kevin Wilson has a very interesting way of explaining the difference between producing novels and short stories. Writing novels, he says, is like taking a long, peaceful trip in a car you bought with a low-cost loan; you know you are headed to a nice destination, but it does not even matter if you end up somewhere other than where you intended to go in the first place. On the other hand, producing short stories, for him at least, is like stealing the car, driving it really fast, knowingly crashing the car into a tree, and then crawling out of the wreckage to do it over again.

The 11 “car crashes” comprising this volume are all entertaining and thought-provoking examples of just what that metaphor implies about the creative process. Ranging in emotional impact from spectacular, fiery events (“Grand Stand-In”, “Blowing Up on the Spot”, “The Dead Sister Handbook”, “Museum of Whatnot”) to multi-vehicle pile-ups (“Birds in the House”, “Tunneling to the Center of the Earth”, “The Shooting Man”, “Worst-Case Scenario”) to more mundane fender-benders (“Mortal Kombat”, “The Choir Director’s Affair”, “Go, Fight, Win”), each of these stories exhibits the author’s surreal and off-center imagination to great effect. They all provide humorous looks—darkly humorous, to be sure—at people who are slightly removed from the mainstream of life and must deal with some extraordinary circumstances.

I really enjoyed reading this collection, which was the first of Wilson’s work that I have come across. He manages to create very relatable characters (although not always likeable) with ordinary human emotions who are involved in simply bizarre situations. For instance, the protagonist in “Blowing Up on the Spot” works at a Scrabble factory sorting letter Q tiles while try to reconcile the grief over the death of his parents, who have recently spontaneously combusted on a subway train. Or, the three recent college graduates in the title story who delay moving on with their lives by spending several months digging tunnels all over (under, actually) the city from a hole their parents’ backyard. <i>Tunneling to the Center of the Earth</i> may well have been executed early in the author’s career, but it is a book I can recommend without hesitation to any fan of engaging, well-crafted stories.