Roses are Red, Violets Are Stealing Loose Change From My Pockets While I Sleep

In his previous collection, Not Quite so Stories, David S. Atkinson twisted reality with small absurdities. Roses are Red, Violets are Stealing Loose Change from my Pockets While I Sleep leaves sanity completely behind, pondering modern life through surreal humorous flash fiction involving Margaret Thatcher, jam appearing in boxers overnight, Gene Roddenberry, and more.

Unorthodox, irreverent, and diverting tales.--Kirkus Review

David Atkinson's writing resides smack between the surreal and the fantastic, with rabbits reading Bridget Jones's Diary, a Heathrow Airport customs line for Americans located in a fish-and-chips kiosk, and Margaret Thatcher as a serial kidnapper. But what he writes about is firmly rooted in reality-the ways that society can get you by the throat and shake you; the insanity woven into the fabric of modern life. Reading his latest collection, you'll laugh out loud while right next to you your ghost twin will read along, soberly, nodding in recognition. --Lynn Mundell, co-editor of 100 Word Story

The author's intellect is slyly evident throughout the book. --Colorado Book Review

David Atkinson is the only author alive who can write absurdist-magical-humorous-poignant fiction, period. But that isn't what makes his short story collection great. What makes Roses are Red, Violets are Stealing Loose Change from my Pockets While I Sleep great is his ability to find that perfect sentence to fuse all of the madness together. "We had to get some coffee in us first," says the narrator who must deal with an otherworldly invasion of perky people wearing leotards. "Tell me about it, Ben," says the narrator who only half-listens to the plight of one of our country's Founding Fathers. Sometimes, the madness makes perfect sense, as in "The Quickest Way to a Man's Heart is to Turn Left a Pecos and Follow the Roundabout," in which the narrator begins in a Kix-flavored fit and ends up massacring a story word by word. Whether everything is related or not, you can be sure Paula Abdul won't be returning any of your calls regardless. --Ken Brosky, author of The Proving and co-author of The Grimm Chronicles

Atkinson has been writing weird stuff for years, which is why I first ran his "Ideas..." story in this volume back in like 1863, when nobody else was publishing absurd flash fiction. This volume is a collection chock full of strange and bizarre short fiction, both chaotic and amusing. David has been a master of grinding it out with small presses and other markets, and this colletion shows the progress he has made over the years cracking into these new markets. Despite its lack of mention of cough syrup or Lunchables, there's tons of great stuff here. --Jon Konrath, author of Rumored to Exist and Help Me Find My Car Keys And We Can Drive Out!