Jim Knipfel

From the irresistibly droll mind of Jim Knipfel comes These Children Who Come at You with Knives, and Other Fairy Tales, a series of twisted fables that echo with pinpoint acuity. A masterful storyteller whose memoirs and novels have earned him widespread acclaim, this is Knipfel’s first foray into the short story, and he delivers in spades: this wickedly dark satire on the notion of happily ever after turns the traditional fairy tale on its head. Among the array of lonely losers wallowing in discontent, the enterprising reader of this volume may meet a talking chicken who learns the world has little patience for intelligence, a foul-mouthed gnome set on world domination, and a magical snowman wrestling with the horror of being alive. In These Children Who Come at You with Knives, Knipfel’s singular and brilliantly funny mind reinvents the bedtime story and offers up a wildly entertaining meditation on the perils of human nature.

Stories

These Children Who Come at You with Knives, and Other Fairy Tales

Esequie

The "darkly comic and inspiring narrative" of a young man faced with a genetic eye disorder, an inoperable brain lesion, and a drinking problem.

Slackjaw

ATM thief hits the road with 350 pounds of $20 bills. Ned “Noogie” Krapczak grew up in rough circumstances in Jersey City, New Jersey. Movies were his only escape, and he dreamed of becoming a filmmaker. But by the time he hits 30, things haven’t worked out the way they were supposed to. Instead of making movies, Noogie has a job restocking ATM machines in delis and drug stores. One day he sees a way out of it all, in the form of a slow-motion heist, siphoning $20 bills a few at a time out of the machines he is supposed to be filling. When his scheme is finally uncovered, he hits the road with his Siamese cat, Dillinger, and 350 pounds of $20 bills totaling $5 million. In that instant, he finds himself not watching movies, but living them. He’s pulled off a great caper and is on the lam cross-country, a life worthy of Edward G. Robinson or Steve McQueen. Noogie works his way down the east coast on this great escape, disguising himself by using the names of characters in some of his favorite movies. In telling the stories of Noogie’s final days, Knipfel’s novel captures the tragic end of a broken man who, however briefly and however unseemly, managed to live the American dream—he became a movie star.

A Novel

Noogie's Time to Shine

Daniel Riccuito

As a precaution against tip-overs, he had to show his map at the peephole, even though he scrubbed the onions nightly on the agony box at the blind pig. As usual, valentinos were trading kale for juniper juice at the bar and putting the eye on tootsie rolls. - Enjoy the colorful vernacular of a bygone era in this magnificently researched alphabetic guidebook to the slang of the 1930s. Often referred to as the Dirty Thirties, it was a time marked by economic hardship, unemployment and excessive crime. The words and phrases reflect this, mirroring the concerns and vices of the day with a myriad of colloquialisms. Typographic flourishes and illustrations by award-winning artist Tony Millionaire breathe life into the idioms and elevate this volume to the status of lasting tribute.

Jim Knipfel

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