When Giraffes Flew

A series of brief vignettes that is, at its lightest, darkly comic, "When Giraffes Flew" is a brilliant southern gothic collection in the tradition of Barry Hannah. A tour through the outskirts of society (or the shadows of the veneer thereof), Giraffes stakes its territory in the stark beauty of the "now," in a manner that is at once compelling, captivating and disturbing.

I can not get over how much I was moved and impressed by When Giraffes flew. These stories were honest brutal and powerful examinations of real peoples lives. They are about struggle and suffering in a way we all can relate to. Totally human and incredibly insightful. Jeff Weddle understands the human condition in a way that can allow you to relate to people who could not be more different from you. Within his stories there is enough of the everyman to appreciate the feelings in the lives of totally original and unique characters. My advise to readers is to savor each story like a last meal. Feel each story for all its emotional power. If you do the book will effect your live forever.

The short stories of When Giraffes Flew is carried safely in my day pack as an escape from ordinary time. Weddle’s characters are free to follow their strangeness, flaws and cigarette breaks. Thank God he gives their souls chaos and continuation, not some sorted ending. This book will see wear and tear as I will refer to it often. Denise McQuiston

'When Giraffes Flew' is a collection of short stories by Jeff Weddle. Varying from the fantastical and allegorical to twisted tales of human nature, these stories are full of surprises throughout. Weddle is best when he sticks to stories featuring folks from the wrong side of the tracks trying to make their own sense out of a world that doesn't care about them in the least. These stories are mostly humorous, sometimes heartbreaking, always going wonderfully astray. Weddle doesn't deal much with predictability, he often allows the characters to make their own choices--usually to their own detriment. I'm reminded of Arthur Bradford's collection 'Dog Walker Stories' and Denis Johnson's 'Jesus' Son' (Both of which owe a lot to 'Drugstore Cowboy'--the book by James Fogle, not the film, good as it was) which feature characters on the down and out without ridiculing them as much as showing their all too often failing and human side. People are people wherever they go, so it is often said, and Weddle knows how to showcase the interesting and often disturbing side of human nature in a decidedly off-beat manner.