Street Light Bolero

by Michael Paul Hogan

Print (softcover): $22.95
 

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ISBN: 978-1-962082-52-5 (print; softcover; perfect bound)

LCCN: 2025934980

Released April 8, 2025  |  Copyright 2025

178 pages

Author Biography

Born in London, Michael Paul Hogan is a poet, journalist, literary essayist, and fiction writer whose work has appeared extensively in the UK, USA, India, and China. He has published six books of poetry and numerous articles on contemporary literature, photography, and painting in both mainstream and independent magazines. Brought up in England and Wales, he has lived in Key West, India, Sumatra, Java, Thailand, and China, and to support himself during periods of working on experimental poetry and prose has variously sought employment as a commercial fisherman, house painter, bartender, day laborer, radio announcer, and market stall trader. Artist Descending a Typewriter: 9 Essays on Contemporary Art, endorsed by Viscountess Bridgeman as “An original and exceptional contribution to contemporary art history,” was published by Shanti Arts in 2023. Street Light Bolero is his first collection of short stories.

Victoria Merki (b. 1972, Baku, Azerbaijan) is an artist, illustrator, writer, and publicist. Born into a family of artists, she held her first international exhibition in Berlin at twenty. Since then, her works have been exhibited worldwide—from Europe to the USA and Canada. Merki has illustrated dozens of books and blends philosophy, symbolism, and mysticism in her art. Her paintings, literary essays, and fairy tales weave ancient legends with profound allegories. She currently lives in Germany, continuing to inspire through her work.

Endorsements

“‘Neither purely ink, nor purely water,’ Hogan’s stories weave a complex landscape spanning from New York to Paris, from the French Riviera to the Florida Keys, from London to East Asia, unified—even at its most exquisitely urban—by the shimmering embrace of the ocean, bathed in its mystery and wisdom. Through a dazzling variety of stylistic tones, seamlessly shifting between realism a la Hopper and unleashed, whimsical surrealism, Hogan smoothly leads the reader into a spiraling waltz—barely brushing the ground—meanwhile capturing snapshots of poignant, indelible humanity and delicate, otherworldly shadows.”
—Toti O’Brien, author of Other Maidens and An Alphabet of Birds

“I have long been an admirer of Michael Paul Hogan’s work. Each piece offers readers an exciting journey of discovery. He has the uncanny knack of revealing hidden avenues and alleyways with the easy grace of a skilled guide. When I read his work, six simple words spring to mind, ‘I wish I had written that.’”
—Clare Morris, author of Devon Maid Walking

“On the surface Michael Paul Hogan's collection of short stories could be read as a series of beautifully crafted fables. This would be a mistake. Through a process of dialectic ingenuity, he skillfully shakes up our perceptions of accepted realities and challenges us to ask gnomic questions about the meaning of our existence.”
—Michael Woods, Paris and the Surrealists (with George Melly)

“There is more than a hint of magic realism in these supple and lyrical stories. Michael Paul Hogan is an inventive and natural teller of tales, and his words just dance off the page.”
—Helen Ivory, author of Waiting for Bluebeard and The Anatomical Venus

“I first encountered Michael Paul Hogan in a story, ‘Paris Vagrant,’ which he submitted to a magazine of which I was Fiction Editor. I was entranced by this short piece and immediately accepted it for publication. Since then, I have both read and published other work by Michael, whose short fiction is both fresh and thought-provoking. His ability to create immediate empathy for his offbeat characters along with his well-structured yet lyrical writing style ensure that it is always a pleasure to read him.”
—Dave Kavanagh, author and publisher

“Of cocktails, cigarettes and the craft of short story writing If you want to mix the perfect martini, take my advice, don’t bother with secret agents. Instead, seek out the services of a seasoned short story writer—they’ll tell you to forget about being shaken not stirred, it is more about the specifics of the product, the measurements, the dimensions, its placement—and what to leave out as much as what to put in.

“Michael Paul Hogan is one such practitioner. His collection of short stories, Street Light Bolero takes us from the South China Sea, the air heavy with kretek cigarettes to Paris and a crumpled packet of Gitanes, to the blue haze of cigarette smoke under a ceiling’s cross-beams, to ‘cigarettes clamped between their teeth vibrating like tuning forks’ on Dragon Tooth Beach, to a pack of Luckies in a shirt pocket, to cite but a few examples. This collection bowls us from scenario to scenario with expert skill. In each case the story emerges rather than is told. The space beyond the story is tantalizingly close. ‘Like a Lizard on White Plaster’ concludes with the protagonist dreaming that ‘she would do so many wonderful things when her nails were dry,’ the same nails that she had painted in alternate shades of green, flecked with gold, moments earlier in the story. The precision of the details used and the confidence with which we move between locations, cultures, and languages enable each story to pulsate with possibility, even encouraging us to forge links across stories where, for example, viridian green lizards in ‘Like a Lizard on White Plaster’ become the monitor lizard that with ’reptilian joy’ welcomes ‘the unforgiving day’ in ‘The Undead,’ the final story in the collection.

“Characters slip in and out of focus under the street light’s glare, occasionally resurfacing in another story. Not only is Song Qiang ‘the only Chinaman who had ever held a commercial fishing license in Key Blanco’ (‘Key Blanco #1’), his filleting knives also provide the final, exquisite image in ‘Key Blanco #3.’ The precision with which Hogan steers us through each narrative enables events to emerge as naturally as ‘chance encounters beside the moonlit ripples of the Seine’ (‘Paris Vagrant’) or even when ‘skimming coins across the surface of the sea’ (‘toreador pants and a white cotton shirt’). He tells us in ‘Key Blanco #3,’ ‘it’s just the telling that makes it slow’ because ‘the fog alters time’ and in doing so, he flawlessly captures the seemingly effortless grace at the heart of good short story writing. Street Light Bolero encourages us to consider what it is to be human and why it matters. If life is ‘a balancing act’ (‘Vanessa Wanita Dicat’), then, while we are sorting out the high wire, ‘a glass of Cinzano under a Cinzano umbrella would be—lovely, darling. Let’s do!’ (‘CINZANO’).

“Yes, let’s do—but let’s remember the impact of the pause and the subtle shift the silence creates within that sentence. Street Light Bolero is a collection that is delicious in its delicacy. It will make you fall in love with the genre of the short story, as I did. Enjoy!”
—Clare Morris

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