Most
adults in our society spend most of their time trying to
make a living. This means that all of us are usually at one
end or another of a business deal. These
transactions are the action for Tom Tolnay’s collection
of short stories, “Selling
America”. The
eighteen stories in this book tell of salespeople working
door-to-door, in a store or by appointment. They
are trying to sell buttons or automobiles, mutual funds
or the newest miracle liquid cleaner, or simply satisfaction.
“Sales Resistance” is
the ironic title of a story about a salesman who discovers
that suddenly everyone wants to buy the detergent in his
sample case. One
person asks him, “Why bother resisting when we really want
something?” moved by desires “that went much deeper than
the dirty surfaces this product was meant to clean.”
In a few of these
stories it’s never clear exactly what is being offered;
the transaction itself is seen as some kind of fulfillment,
the sale another instance of peddling our way through life.
But
in some of Tolnay’s stories the focus is on the buyer, and
the inexplicable appearance of an individual who can sell
them the solution to their longings. “Universal Book of Knowledge” is an encounter
between a public relations man down on his luck and a salesman
who cannot be shaken off, offering a book that magically
updates itself with every morsel of knowledge.
Tom Tolnay lives in Delhi and is the owner
of Birch Brook
Press, which publishes handcrafted letterpress editions
printed on vintage equipment. He is also the author of two mystery novels, “Celluloid
Gangs” and its sequel “The Big House”. His short stories have appeared in many periodicals, including The Saturday Evening Post, Ellery Queen’s
Mystery Magazine, Women’s Day, Twilight Zone, and Chelsea Review. His story “The Ghost of F. Scott Fitzgerald” was
published in Literal Latté and was made into
a short film. Tolnay was also editor of the theatrical publication Backstage.
Tom Tolnay’s experience
in the realm of marketing is apparent in “Selling America”. But many of these stories could be considered science fiction or
fantasy. In “Roots
of Evil” an insurance salesman and his wife move to the
suburbs and discover that their neighbor works for a rival
insurance company. Soon “Mr.
and Mrs. Continental” and “Mr. and Mrs. National” are bent
on mutual destruction, aided by the cruel forces of nature.
Listen to the program
now
in
RealAudio© format
(requires free RealAudio© player)
Off the Page
Lamar Herrin’s novel