Gregory D. WilliamsBesprekingen

A beautiful collection of short stories based on the author's childhood in Arizona. Williams reminds me how different life was for me around 10-14 years old compared to most kids today - mostly free to roam the neighborhood during the day when not in school. He also reminds me how conversation with my buds suddenly began to focus on speculation about girls!
These stories are captivating, well conceived, skillfully written, and are taking their place among the best stories in my library.
-Os½

A Dry Heat was surprising and wonderful. Short stories based on real life events, it’s engaging and easy to follow. It kind of took me back to my own childhood, teen age and then adult years. Gregory Williams’ family sounds like the type of family that I would have loved to hang around with. Mr Williams descriptions of characters and places are easy to imagine. Highly recommend.

This is a collection of short stories that will resonate with you long after you've finished reading. Gregory Williams' collection is a chronology of life and its challenges. Selected short stories are included for childhood, early/mid-adulthood, and late adulthood. I loved seeing how the collection wrapped up with death and the afterlife in "Rainbow Trout." Based on the title and description, I was expecting more references to Arizona (and Phoenix) to be interwoven into the book. As someone living in Phoenix, that was a slight disappointment to me. However, I highly enjoyed the book. Thank you to LibraryThing and Grand Canyon Press for my copy of the book.½

You don't have to have grown up playing baseball or be a physician to love this collection. It's great to sit down with if you only have a little time on your lunch hour, or you could read the whole thing in a lazy Sunday afternoon. I especially enjoyed the two stories of youth, one reminiscent of 'The Wonder Years' and the other with a darker vibe. The triumphs, travails (and temptations) of doctors dominate the middle group of stories, while the concluding stories focus on old age, loss and closure. My least favorite story, 'The Rainbow Trout,' may well be most people's favorite. By refraining from telling us what to think or feel, and instead showing us what the characters think, feel, and do, Williams allows us to enter into their moral world and reflect upon our own.½

--ARC provided thanks to Grand Canyon Press and LibraryThing.--

Blurbs do the collection a disservice, suggesting a male-centric vanity that does not happen. The stories are very human, very personal, and quite tightly focused in familiar, slice-of-life scenarios; while each is presented via a male perspective character, that is certainly not the limit of their scope. Maturity, morality, and mortality are the guiding themes throughout, and Williams does a superb job of making clear that a human life is a work in progress at all stages of the game. The female characters also reflect Williams' deep respect for the women and girls in his life.

While I might rate this collection a bit lower because the stories don't happen in places or situations that overlap with my life or interests, I am really taken by Williams' command of prose. The stories are told with a clear economy, an intuitive understanding of how to express the most with little frosting. Not all the stories hit the same, of course, so while "Three Strides to Thirty" felt like a throwaway to me and I'll not reread it, "Rounding the Bases" and "Section" were simply brilliant. I am sad at the passing of this fellow I'd never met, since I'd love to have future work of his to look forward to.

A final word about the text itself merits mention since I frequently criticize small presses: Grand Canyon Press has done a fine job with the proofing, editing, and layout of this slim volume. It was a joy to hold and read, and they should be proud.½

I have never been so happy to be proven wrong about my initial assumptions about a book. After guessing this collection might be nothing but a vanity project for a rich doctor, I was very happy to discover writing that generated aching nostalgia and perfectly recreated another place and time.

This fascinating collection of short stories (and several prose poems) contains some of the most immersive writing I have ever experienced. Dr. Williams takes the reader through three phases of life: childhood, early adulthood, and late adulthood. Most of the stories mostly take place over just a few hours, though others take days or even months. The childhood stories were particularly moving and transported me to 1960s/70s Arizona; I felt as though I were watching the story unfold in reality rather than reading about it.

Interestingly, most of the books are about death in some fashion, which I was not expecting. Rather than a cheap way to add gravitas, however, death feels natural - although confusing in the childhood stories - and its exploration provides depth.

Overall, I was highly impressed with Dr. Williams' stories and look forward to reading more.

“A Dry Heat” is a wonderful, thoughtful collection of stories which transcend the boundaries of emotions through his brilliant writing. These short stories left me reflecting for days and the humor and tears beneath the metaphors of boys becoming men made this book hard to put down. A great peek into growing up with a unique perspective. Would recommend!!

I spent a quiet Saturday morning curled up in a recliner with my cat, a cup of coffee, and this lovely book. A collection of short stories and a few poems, it’s a quick read. But from the 1st page I was drawn into the vivid, nostalgic world of 1960’s Arizona. As the stories moved along in time, each one capturing an older, more seasoned narrator, I would feel a little sorry to leave behind that character, but just as quickly engaged with the new protagonist. The author had a real gift for quickly establishing a voice, a place and a mindset. Each of the stories is unique, but each one captures a critical moment in a person’s life that shapes their worldview. Some are subtle, some are shocking, but they all overlay in a beautiful way. If you are a fan of short fiction, this book is well worth your time. I can see myself recommending specific stories to individual friends that I think would connect to them on a deeper level. Like all good short stories, you’ll wish you could spend more time with these characters, know more about what happened next, and for readers who don’t like short formats, that will frustrate them. But it speaks to the writer’s talent that he says a lot in just a few pages. I’m sorry we won’t get more of his writing. That’s not a spoiler. The introduction to the the book explains that Dr. Williams passed away in 2020. And knowing that up front gave me a different perspective as I read the last couple stories that deal with grief and end of life. I highly recommend for fans of short stories and character-driven narratives. I’m glad I got a chance to read this book.

As I read the cover blurbs, I thought, "this deceased medical doctor is unlikely be that good." But after reading a few pages of the first story, I thought, "he is just that good!" I still thought so at the end of the book. His carefully chosen details and plot twists make for a real poignancy. The stories are varied (although all seem to involve death in some way) and all hold the reader's interest. In my opinion, a fine piece of fiction!

I like this book. It was really good in my opinion. It kind of gave more of like a list more than a description of places but I enjoyed reading it.

A Dry Heat, Gregory D. Williams' "debut collection" of short stories, is an uneven journey from adolescence to retirement. Divided into three parts: Youth, The Middle Years and The Later Years, the stories are primarily examinations of the way death impacts life. Six of the nine stories contain a death; two of the remaining three allude to the possibility of death. Only "Comps," the story of a mid-life crisis, lacks any actual or implied mortality.

Death's role in these stories varies. In the opening story, "Rounding the Bases," the male protagonist's relationship with a female buddy is altered after the death of her father, shifting subtly away from childhood innocence as they delve into the adult world. In the penultimate story, "Three Strides to Thirty," death is the impetus for an aged narrator's seemingly reckless actions.

Characters' reactions to death also vary. The protagonist in "Who We Were at Twelve" reveals his less-than-admirable nature after the death of a schoolmate. The anesthesiologist in "What the Doctor Didn't Know" begins a downward spiral after a tragic death, while the fisherman in "Rainbow Trout" is initially perplexed but ultimately comforted by death.

While the collection's title is superficially an accurate description of the weather in its primary locale, Phoenix, Arizona, it also describes the author's writing style, that of a storyteller interested more in cause and effect than in evoking ambiguous moods through elevated prose. Williams' stories are descriptively minimalistic, tending to list rather than describe scenery. Medical terminology in particular is recorded rather than explained. Yet the details he does provide enrich his themes by drawing out contrasts. Both "Rounding the Bases" and "Who We Were at Twelve" feature older boys' and their girlfriends' initial sexual forays; these highlight the innocence of each story's younger protagonist. The remaining stories are equally populated with similar devices.

Most stories have clearly defined hinges – a point at which the protagonist is changed and alters his behavior in some large or small way in reaction to a climactic event. A character's growth can reflect an optimistic outlook, such as the narrator's decision about his troubled marriage in "Comps;" other reactions can be sinister and unexpected, such as the aforementioned "Who We Were at Twelve." Only "Baggage Claim," the story of a married couples' bickering at the airport, lacks clarity regarding the nature of the change, leaving it to the reader to determine what the man whispers to his wife at the story's conclusion.

A Dry Heat also examines the wax and wane of maturity as its protagonists age from grade-school boys into career-oriented professionals and eventually retirees. The collection's strongest stories are those in the first two parts; those in the last part feel somewhat contrived, reflecting perhaps the acceptance of approaching death versus the harsher—and sharper—judgements made by younger men still capable of change.

The nine stories and other writings in A Dry Heat are easy and enjoyable to read. The publication dates in the incomplete bibliography range from 2008 to 2011, leaving a gap of nine years before the author's death. While I presume the first part of this period was spent on his novel, An Open Heart, I hope there are additional stories to be subsequently collected.½

3.5* stars

Thank you to the publisher Marylee MacDonald and Grand Canyon Press and Bookishfirst for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Gene, his father was an anesthesiologist always doing his best to save the lives of people in need. But on a family trip, they drive by an ancient but even though Gene’s father tries his best he can’t save that little girl. That memory has always stuck in Gene’s mind and his father's too. Now Gene with his father gone is in the shadow of his amazing father. When he spends his summer trailing a famous heart surgeon everyone in the hospital remembers his father and its big shoes to follow in. This novel explores Gene and his summer as he tried to get over the love of his life and as he untangles the multitude of lies his family has told him over the years.

I like how this story is set up. It starts off right away with that fatal ancient. This gets the reader's heart attached to Gene as they feel the pain he feels and the sorrow he feels with all the people he loses in his life. In the beginning of the story, it switches between different timelines giving the reader some needed background information but then it eventually stays in the year the story is taking place. This story is considered historical but it’s not really, the only way it is considered this is because it takes place in the 70s but that’s as far as it goes.

I really enjoyed this book. At first, when reading the plot, I thought this book would be cheesy and just like every other book about a guy falling in love at first sight, but as the book went on you could see why they fell in love and could feel the chemistry to the very end. The writing style flows easily, so it is easy to understand and still very engaging to readers.

This story is in no way face-paced. It is pretty slow. I still liked it because it was more of a slow pleasant read you don’t have to think hard about. The story is very detailed and is very well written, but it’s just not an action-packed thriller. And it doesn’t really have much of a conflict. There are of course some small things but the book itself doesn’t have the main plot. The story mainly just goes with the fly randomly throwing different side stories in, but those small side stories are still entertaining. And the ending wasn’t much of an ending because there was nothing really to resolve except maybe with his love life.

I did really enjoy reading the experiences inside the heart room and hospital. This was my favorite part. I loved hearing about the patients and how they develop a relationship with their patients. It was very realistic in how the medical staff interacts and the medical jargon really added so much to the book.

I was so sad to hear about the author, but it’s wonderful that his work gets to live on and we get to read it.

The book’s opening scenes are set in the early 1960’s and immediately involved the reader in drama when Gene’s family comes upon a tragic accident. The story picks up again in 1974, as Gene is embarking on a career in medicine, beginning with a college stint in the ‘Heart Room.’ As the story progresses, the title of the book hints that there is definitely a double meaning to the words “Open Heart.” This book explores a young man’s quest to understand the human condition and the profound ways he grows as he journeys life’s path.

This book began slow, for me. Although I love historical fiction, this era is not one that I know much about or care to read about. When the opportunity came to read this book, however, I did jump at the chance.

This book focused on Gene, a (near) college graduate, caught between being a boy and a man. He takes a summer internship at a hospital, being an "assistant" on the hospital's "Heart Team", performing open heart surgeries. Part of the book focuses on that, part focuses on the relationship Gene had with his (now) deceased father, and part focuses on his relationship with his high school girlfriend, Patty.

The book began with a series of flashbacks, and I found it to be a little confusing, overall. It was disorienting, especially when you were first meeting and getting to know these characters. The book was slow, and covered a lot of topics, but it all did come together in the end.

Generally, I liked this book, but thought it covered TOO much (too many relationships and too many "problems") I especially liked the female characters, and thought that they were more dimensional than the "flat" male characters of Gene, his father and the other medical personnel that Gene worked with. In the end, I am glad that I read it. I give this books 3.5/5 stars, rounded up to 4.

I really liked this book! I have to admit that while I thought this book sounded interesting from the start, I was only mildly interested in it. Once I had a copy in my possession, I decided to give it a try and I ended up reading the entire book cover to cover in a single day. I was drawn into this story as soon as I started reading and it captured my attention until I turned the last page. I am so glad that I took a chance on this book.

This book falls into several genres. It is a coming of age story, a historical fiction tale since it is set in the 970s, and a medical drama because a large portion of the book takes place in the operating room. I loved the fact that not only was this book was able to do so many things but that it did them well. I am not sure that all readers will enjoy the detailed surgery scenes in this book since they are a little graphic but I loved them. Of course, I have also been known to watch surgeries on television as a form of entertainment.

Gene is a young man living in 1970s Arizona. He meets a girl at the start of the story and wants to get to know her better. When they are on their first date together, she has an emergency and Gene calls his father, who is a doctor, to come help. Patty ends up needing surgery and Gene is there for her every step of the way. When Gene is in college, he knows his grades may not be enough to get him into medical school so he spends his summer following a heart surgeon and his team at the hospital in hopes of getting a recommendation.

We really watch Gene grow up in this book. There were some times in this book that I wanted to look away because I knew Gene was about to do something that was not going to work out well. I love it when a book can make a character feel so real that it is almost painful to watch their life implode. This book does deal with a lot of tough issues and Gene learns a lot of lessons in these pages. I am just glad that I was able to go on this journey with him.

I would recommend this book to others. I found this to be a well-written story and I loved the medical aspect of the story. I think that Gregory D. Williams crafted a very entertaining story and I was saddened to learn that he passed away in 2020 before the publication of this book.

I received an advanced review copy of this book from Grand Canyon Press.