Reviewed by Larry

Steven Kain's "Tan Man" really brought me back; outdoor concerts, buying food from curb-side vendors, being there with all different kinds of people--some you could call friends, others you just knew by name, strangers that drew your attention. Those times were fast and hectic and the memories return in colourful fragments, often with the obscure and unimportant details, such as those listed early in the story, coming to mind readily. The first few paragraphs create a magically young mood and to intentionally manifest such a feel would have been truly skilful. But, it was not sustained. Kain had a lesson for us to take from his story, and in his haste to deliver it, became somewhat preachy.

The author (from whose point of view I assume the story is told) watches as someone unlike himself and his friends endures cruel derision. Kain is rich and true in his depiction of the teens who walked up to the Tan Man, and mocked him. His characters seem real--because they are real. You can see them everywhere, everyday; people that do not "conform", and the people that mock them. Some readers may well feel guilt.

Kain's message is sure. But after being lifted by the juvenile, helter-skelter pace, I must admit feeling a bit let down by the way he chose to finish.