Man & wife

Many of these stories have a macabre twist, like they take place in parallel world. A dad comes home to pop champagne and celebrate something that's so Shirley Jackson Lotteryesque. Every good marriage begins with tears has a literal meaning. Seriously literally.

Old Maid was my favorite with it's twists with basketball shorts and coarse comments between exes who pretend they aren't.

Chase's stories are longer then the typical short story - most are 30-50 pages. This gives you time to get into the parallel world. To feel it before the typical short story abrupt climax - a car crash, a riot, a kiss on the football field.

There's something about the struggle to break away and feeling forced into traditional gender roles that the stories take to the ridiculous, that's why it feels like a parallel world.

Looking forward to reading more.