Doug McIntyre 790-KABC Radio, Los Angeles, CA.
"Jack Savage has written a wonderful collection of twelve very different, very human, short stories. Observant of the human condition, his flawed and damaged characters are real people with real problems. This is first rate fiction."
Eric Frost-Barnes Hollywood, CA.
"This is a strong collection of short stories that cover a vast landscape of humanity and the emotions we all inevitably feel throughout our lives. From the jungles of Vietnam (yes, the author actually served and was in country) to the corridors of the KGB, Jack Savage's stories and characters never lose their souls, nor do they ever feel forced. The people we encounter are fighting, scratching and clawing their way through life, and we can identify with them throughout the entire ride. This is a thoughtful combination of personal journeys that will engage and hold you, as well as make you want to turn on your computer and start writing stories yourself."
Alexander Wells Pasadena Star News, Pasadena, CA.
"I really enjoyed reading this volume of stories. Jack Savage has a knack for delving into the inner life of his characters with vivid details, compelling inner narratives that draw the reader into interesting and occasionally weird places. He writes in a strong, unpretentious, vulnerable yet masculine tone, one that is well-suited to his subject matter. In most of the stories, ambiguity somehow comes to look like resolution. He builds his stories brick by brick, as it were, with carefully laden layers of detail that rise to thought-provoking and sometimes disturbing conclusions. Maybe in this befuddled world where narrative is so often suspect, this is what truth and morality really look like. Savage makes a pretty convincing case for it, at any rate."
Vardan Vardanian Glendale, CA.
"W. Jack Savage's Bumping and Other Stories is an enticing collection of twelve distinctive tales which face the grim reality that is adult life and death. The stories differ greatly in tone and language, and each character is unique in motivation and attitude. Many times authors re-write different variations of similar characters in an attempt to utilize what minimal knowledge they have of people, but here W. Jack Savage explores all different sorts of characters and places. From quiet but fatal jungles in "To Be Safe", to dance clubs where characters search for different types of adventure in "A Matter of Darts", Bumping holds back on nothing in order to deliver a hard-hitting collection of literary treasures."
Reviews on amazon for "More With Cal and Uncle Bill"
With More With Cal and Uncle Bill, W. Jack Savage has successfully made the transition from short story writer to novelist, but managed to keep that ‘short story’ feel throughout. Imagine an engaging drinker in a bar telling you a story in ten parts; one part each time you run into him. And not unlike a guy in a bar, you’re not sure how much of it is true but still have the feeling that it’s too real to have been made up. Begin with the protagonist, Cal Daniels: a man for whom self-effacement seems a birthright and yet a lightening rod for outrageous fortune as well. After getting out of prison in Chino where he did four years for a mysterious manslaughter, Cal moves in with his Uncle Bill Ridzak in Temple City. Bill is retired LAPD and a widower the family had figured for a suicide after the death of his wife. Between them, these two apparent loose ends find a strength in their union and as Cal the ex-con hides from the light of day stocking groceries overnight, he and Uncle Bill settle in for years. One morning after work Cal brings home a woman he met while having his ‘morning beer’ and the whole dynamic changes. And yet the pivotal event upon which this sequential tale is told, seems to thread it’s way so unobtrusively through the chapters, you’re not sure if these tandem events are related at all. More With Cal and Uncle Bill is more then a good first effort at writing a novel by a good short story writer. Rather, W. Jack Savage found a way to bring the strength of his short story telling to an engaging first person mystery set in the San Gabriel Valley of southern California. I never read sequels to anything but if Jack writes a continuation to More With Cal and Uncle Bill I’ll read it.
When I began reading More With Cal and Uncle Bill, I found myself smiling when I’d come to the end of a chapter. After a while I concluded that while I had no idea where it was going, it was certainly quite a ride. Every now and then I’d be reading and get nit picky about something or other only to wind up with the feeling, and more, the certainty that life is indeed is stranger than fiction. And there’s plenty of strange to go along with this fiction if only to marvel that it was all happening to one guy. That seemed to me to be the strength of this story that W. Jack Savage somehow tapped into: that while some people have all the luck, others seem find all the bad luck and now and then, come out the other side still standing. This is of course, a terrific underdog story and yet I’d close my eyes and swear it was happening to somebody. Several of Jack’s short stories had a similar effect on me and for that reason I’ve now read nearly everything he’s written. His stories are different than the ones from writers whose names are bigger than their titles. I also like his first person voice and whether it’s a high school history teacher like Bernard in Jack’s short story, Bumping, or a high desert ex-con like Cal Daniels, so far, he always convinces me I’m reading the real deal. I liked More With Cal and Uncle Bill and like the other reviewer said, I hope I get a chance to read more of him someday.
Reviews on amazon for "State Champions" Click Here to see the reviews.