Voices on the Stair
by Elizabeth Routen,
Xlibris Corporation,
ISBN: 0-7388-5835-8.

his first collection of thirty-three rather short pieces of fiction earns forgiveness for its minor sins by the author's age (20 yrs.) and the inclusion of frequent very imaginative images:

[Shadows of] "the four-poster bed [in flickering lamplight] swayed 
back and forth like the legs of a horse that had been
overturned."

"On
the left side, the ocean was eating 
her meal of sand and men's labor."
 
"She
finally turns to look at me . . . her eyes flitting from here to there
like the tail of a balancing cat."
 
 . . . a short puff of indignant breath floated in front of his face like
 steam from a kettle."

Most of the pieces — some as short as one page — might more properly be called "vignettes" rather than stories. With rare exceptions, they have the quality of an interrupted dream, the content of which has yet to be investigated by a psychologist. They just don't go anywhere, and although the descriptive passages are carefully delineated, they seem to refer to no actual physical possibilities. One has the impression that something has been left out. Scenes fade into one another without the transitions necessary to give the action a sense of taking place in actual time. The geographical variety of the settings becomes fatiguing, leaving a critical reader with the certitude that (in spite of the author's claim that "they are the products of my experience and observation") there's not even a remote possibility that the writer could have had actual experience of that many places in one lifetime, much less by the age of twenty years. This overarching ambition has the effect of detracting from, rather than enhancing, a willingness to suspend disbelief.

The author is a little too present in the work, barging into the action with too much philosophical commentary on the characters and their situations, with an inflated vocabulary that becomes more annoying than persuasive. Seriously overwritten, the text leaves one wondering if Ms. Rowan prepared for her literary career by studiously memorizing the content of several years' worth of "It Pays to Increase Your Vocabulary" from the Reader's Digest.

Toward the end of the book, a longer than usual piece entitled "Seven Wolves" almost makes it as a short story, but even so, as it draws to a close it rather clumps to an indefinite end, leaving the reader to wonder what really happened.

Although this first offering earns more by its promise than by its achievement, there is every possibility that it will prove to be the first milestone in the oeuvre of one who will emerge as a promising new writer. She has obvious skill, impressive talent, and an unusual command of the basic components of discursive prose. What is lacking here is narrative skills — plot, suspense, effective characterization — and especially, convincing transitions. If this young author wishes to enter the highly competitive field of fiction writing, she will have to work hard to develop these skills. With practice, attention, and a great deal of the humility she proffers in her introduction to this volume, plus a willingness to profit from intelligent criticism, there is every probability that she will succeed.  

© Sandy McKinney