ANIMALS by Jerrod Edson

Jerrod Edson is a master at spinning alternate universe yarns that hook readers and leaves them satiated long after the last page has been inhaled.

At 103 pages, Edson’s new novella,  “ANIMALS,”@galleonbookscanada, immerses us in a paradigm shift, where traditional roles are flipped— with hitherto fore traditional hunters —humans with their guns, advantages, resources and power, are tracked and stalked by their trophy prey in a cleverly paced game of humans versus a gang of four-legged poachers, which includes polar bears, a lion, a rhino, moose, fawns and porcupines.

Painted against two unlikely backdrops —the black, white, and blood red scenarios of terror and fear that the humans are scrambling to get out from under —alongside the slap dash and delightfully wry enjoyment of the forest creatures creating the chaos, Edson’s talent in weaving the weird and fantastical into scenarios that somehow make the unreal seem preposterously possible is both entertaining and thought- provoking.

As “ANIMALS” begins, we meet the humans at the core of the mayhem. There is Kate, who is fleeing from her husband to what she believes is the safety of her childhood home, her two children in two. Danger, however, seems to have taken the red eye and has already slid through the cellar door. Mel Tinsel, a widower, is out walking in the woods when his troubles begin. Lastly, assistant supervisor, Terry Buckman, a man short on courage, rounds out the bullseye of people that find themselves in the crosshairs of the newly empowered jungle hunters.

In a complete reversal of who is shooting whom, Edson’s snippets of conversation between the various animals resonates with dark humour and the underpinnings of human voices celebrating their kill.

When the mosquitos and blackflies become bitingly annoying to the lion, the rhino quips:

“You won’t be complaining once we’re sippin’ beers on the Serengeti.”

The wisecracking rhino, who tells the lion that he’s “a real pussy” appears to be an expert on the science of shooting humans. Indeed, he is full of advice as to what part of the human’s body the lion should aim for.

“Whatever you do, NEVER a headshot. You’ll risk shattering the teeth. You might as well piss your profit away.”

A quirky, witty, and unusual read, which includes subliminal life observations — “I’m the only black bear in the whole school. You don’t know how hard that is,” “ANIMALS” is a thought-provoking twist on the things we accept in life, if only because that is the way it has always been.

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