Are you ready to get naughty in the noughties?

Ben Sixmith's new short story book and assorted other matters

Dec 29, 2021

Hello from southern Brazil. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone.

I recently read my friend Ben Sixsmith’s new book Noughties: Eleven Echoes of a Dismal Decade.

The book made me laugh out loud, cringe inwardly and feel both happy and sad (but mostly sad). I do have to admit the noughties were a fairly dismal decade for me, too. Was it that way for everyone?

In any case: we can just thank the Lord that things are rocking and rolling so much more now in 2021 (if you’re reading this in 2022 then hello there in the future).

Noughties even made me approach having an original thought (an occurrence which last happened in 2009, but for which I’ll forgive Mr. Sixsmith).

In short, Noughties was outstanding. It did what any short story collection should do: it kept my interest, introduced original characters and explored important themes like the artificiality of many of our social interactions, the vacuity of pop culture, alcoholism and the gap between generations. Noughties also gets into the oddity of online communities and takes a peek where washed up bands go when nobody cares about them anymore (hint: it’s a hot place with a lot of sand).

Ben’s skill for detail, wry humor and cutting observations makes these stories a joy to read and they really absorb you in the characters. The dialog is also pitch perfect, capturing the way real people actually talk (at least British people).

I highly recommend Noughties. You should buy it if you like to read really entertaining short stories.