Critical Mick

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The Machine Man Letters
Monte Davis
Sam's Dot Publishing, 2007

And The Gum Tasted Great

Some stories cannot be forgotten.

The late NFG magazine released six issues full of sharp, edgy fiction, poetry, comics and articles between Spring of 2003 and Winter of 2004. We had an acceptance rate of 1% - turning down 99 hopefuls for every author or artist who got the golden nod. Of the one thousand submissions that I read, rated, and responded to as a senior fiction editor, a handful still stick with me to this day. (Some of these weren't even submissions that we purchased, in the end. I still remember Michael Churchman, Jesse Minkert and the fantastic Michael Stone by name.) One that was successful, and unforgettable, was Monte Davis whose short story "Machine Man" appeared in Issue 5.

"Machine Man" takes the form of a letter to a magazine editor named Mr. Swimp. Within, the letter writer describes how during one lunch break at Egg Roll Express, he goes from being an Average-Joe Cubicle Man to Machine Man. Bubble Gum Machine Man, to use the full name one co-worker jokingly awards him, shortly before his interviews in the local media and on NPR. All such a transformation takes is to pick up the restaurant lobby's bubble gum machine and bash its multicolor globe upside the head of an armed robber.

But after the big moment of exploding colors, our sleepless narrator finds it is not possible to relax back into his drab office life. So he and his VISA Platinum take action…

Machine Man is told with outstanding character and energy. It was a winner in Issue 5 and it's still a winner on re-read today. Such a powerful self-discovery! Such a conflict! Such bizarre, yet entirely plausible consequences! And the gum tasted great. Great stuff.

But Machine Man's story does not end after he finds the chance to use his Model 747 in red and 300 in baby-blue. Presented within Monte Davis's first published novella, The Machine Man Letters, Machine Man picks up the pen to Mr. Swimp on two more occasions: "SC, Machine Man's Love" and "Da Eye of Medusa, Machine Man's Redemption." Each story is as original, plausible and unforgettable as the first.

In the second letter, Machine Man finds, then loses, his true love- and is faced with his greatest temptation. Davis handles the character extremely well. There is growth and maturity here, yet growth that follows an inevitable course rather than a hackneyed growth as seen on TV.

The final instalment takes place untold years later. Machine Man has once again moved in a believable direction, and straight into midst of the modern era. At his desk one day, his inbox contains an email from the widow of the late president of Cote d'Ivoire- seeking, of course, the banking details of a US Citizen with whom she can safely split the endangered $27.5M secret treasure that her husband has squirreled away.

Machine Man has taken on armed robbers, everyday annoying nuts, and authority figures who toy with their charges. Now: it's 419 scammers who brave his righteous vigilante wrath.

No sweeter outcome, or finish, could have been imagined. Oh no, this tale does not end in a generic Charles Bronson place. It delves once again deep into the character in a way that is as authentically touching as it is funny. It is a thing of beauty.

Which is an amazing trick to see pulled off, from a story so tightly-wound with the absurd. The Machine Man Letters reminds this poor former editor anew what incredible things a true artist can do with words. Monte Davis has won his place amongst the Best Book Critical Mick has read in 2007.

Monte Davis, you are a national treasure!!

Read Critical Mick's June 2007 interview with Monte Davis;.

Yo! This review and all content on the DFA Guide site are copyright 2007 Mick Halpin. All links to other sites and documents are copyright to whatever source wrote something cool enough for Mick to give it a referral. Try to claim them as your own work and bad karma will catch up with you, baby. Believe it.

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This Page Was Last Updated On 30 June, 2007.