Squirrels & Puppies

Dark Morality Tales

Fiction - Short Story/Novela
226 Pages
Reviewed on 11/16/2013
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Author Biography


The author is an Army brat, who was born in Womack Army Hospital, Fort Bragg, North Carolina on October 7th, 1977. He has lived on both coasts of the U.S., but has spent most of his life in the region of the U.S. known as "The South". Thus if you ask the author where he is from, he will normally respond with either "everywhere" or "the South".
The author is a Black Christian with socially conservative views, but, overall, has developed a cynical worldview that shows in his work. Through parental prodding the author has also developed pro-Black leanings that were sharpened and strengthened at his alma mater, Fisk University. Much of the author's initial works were penned there.
Creatively-speaking, the author believes that a writer ultimately pulls from his own experiences and fantasies when writing stories. Thus it is the author's belief that if one truly wants to understand a person, one should read their work.
This author's ultimate goal is to inspire thought on the subjects of religion, morality, and race.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Michelle Robertson for Readers' Favorite

Squirrels & Puppies: Dark Morality Tales by Russell Mebane is a collection of short stories which introduces readers to a deep, dark, gut wrenching state of emotions. Themes include morality, sexual behavior, interracial concepts, relationships, religion, futuristic technology, and superior beings. This book is not for the easily offended, but more for an open minded adult reader.

Readers love to connect with the characters or story plot of the book they are reading. Russel Mebane successfully reaches out to people, although in a dark and sometimes twisted way. The issues and concepts each story contains are similar to what some people might face in their everyday lives. Each story within this book has a moral hidden meaning, sometimes even a double meaning to it. For example, the author writes about a Red squirrel and its sexual encounter with a human. My take on the purpose of this story was the all too often scornful way people view interracial relationships, or it could be taken an entirely different way and be viewed as a relationship that - although uncommon and very disturbing - does happen between animals and humans.

The overall moral to these short stories seems to me to be: the world is a racist, disturbed, and messed-up place and if we as the human race don't clean it up, we will ultimately fail. I take my hat off to Russell Mebane for his intellectual, creative, intriguing style of writing. This book is unique with its plots and is a page turner.

Mamta Madhavan

Squirrels & Puppies - Dark Morality Tales by Russell Mebane is a collection of fourteen short stories which revolve around a theme of killing, torturing, and being raped. The themes are handled in an aesthetic manner, making it meaningful for the reader to fathom. Six of these stories revolve around animals.

The author has done an excellent job in writing these stories which can actually change your perspective on a lot of things. The stories are profound and the themes are circled around the issues we face today. The author is honest and the details are stark and raw which might not appeal to many. The author tries to inspire the readers' thoughts on rape, mortality, and religion. I found the story of the Red Squirrel humorous. The language used in the book is also stark and raw. I enjoyed the stories where the author has made future predictions and all the stories have a moral to them.

The book has plenty of murder, rape, and violence. Many readers might not like that part of it because it is very disturbing. Though the ending is unpredictable, the stories are written well. Apart from the violence etc, the stories have racial themes. Most of the stories in the book are dark.

Lit Amri

Squirrels & Puppies: Dark Morality Tales is a strange collection of metaphorically short stories involving some puppies, a little girl, a couple of squirrels and many more. In the first story, The Woodchipper, Mebane presents us with Chipu, a red squirrel, and its tale about forbidden love. In The Assault, a group of squirrels try to gain ‘fear’ and ‘respect’ from the human species. Then there is 'Felines and Femininity' that enlightens readers with a feline sexuality dilemma.

What really lurks behind author Russell A. Mebane’s writing? The stories defy easy categorization. It seems each story has a double meaning. My favorite is the controversial The Black Section. In that particular world, it is not white supremacy over black minority but the other way around. In Mebane’s own words, the stories “may challenge your stereotypes and ignorance of Black people, especially Black Americans.” In The Guardians of the Glass Existence, the battle between Kemu of the Dark and Auron of the Light is a subject that I would ponder on for a long time.

On the whole, Squirrels & Puppies: Dark Morality Tales is an anthology of interesting but weird and mind challenging stories. I can already imagine some readers furrowing their brows when they read Mebane’s work, yet no doubt there would be others that grasp the moral relativism that he projects in his writing easily. Whether you are willing to be open-minded or not, you would definitely gain something valuable when you read this book. Russell A. Mebane is one of a kind and I look forward to seeing what he will come up with next.