Normalwhatsnormal — Stan Rogal

normalwhats'normal is a collection of stories which explores the notion of normalcy, both in content and form, when it comes to certain human relationships and behaviours in our culture. The stories are of mixed genre (even genre-bending: realism, magic realism, fairytale, dream...) and mixed discourse (from the erudite to the profane). The reader finds the unreliable narrator, muddied/muddled text, plus allusions to art, literature, music, media, pop culture, and so on to show how these outside forces -- rather than simply being experienced as ‘noise' or ‘filler' -- serve to radically affect a character's thinking and actions. To show, in fact, that these influences are used by people constantly as a sort of shorthand in day-to-day -- “go ahead, make my day” -- conversation. What is normal? Nothing is normal.