The Queen of Bad Influences: Stories by Jim Shephard ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

A masterful collection of short works of catastrophe fiction, Jim Shephard presents "underdogs" that we can either root for or detest. These twelve stories range across time and place to provide glimpses of lives broken apart by natural disasters and prideful action.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

 

September 2026; Knopf; 978-0593804414
audio, ebook, print (320 pages); short stories

I picked up this book not so much for being short stories, but because it is catastrophe fiction. I read quite a bit of post-apocalyptic fiction and wanted to see if perhaps this is another genre I would enjoy. I also enjoy historical fiction, and many of these stories focus on historical events and people: the Civil War, the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane, the 1910 Northwest Fire, the flooding of Johnston, the sinking of the Lusitania, and the escaped Nazi Adolf Eichmann.

Let's talk first about the story I liked least - The Testament of Edward Hyde. Perhaps because this one was the least historically based, I just didn't care for it. I haven't read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, so maybe that played into my dislike. I did like some of the poetic passages of the text, but I think the collection would have been just as good without this inclusion.

You may think my favorite story would have been the WWII story of Adolf Eichmann. And I did like the story in terms of some of the possible historical context. Eichmann meets with other German exiles, and basically he's trying to justify his actions. It was interesting to see how he tried to spin the events and his part in them, especially in light of the Nuremberg transcripts the group obtained. But it was not my favorite.

I think my favorite story was The Devil's Broom about the 1910 Northwest forest fires. I have never read anything about the monstrous fire (3 million acres burned). This story definitely gave you an underdog to root for. The Forest Service is a fledgling government organization. To protect pristine wilderness from timber corporations, one of their mandates was to control forest fires. Unfortunately, they were extremely understaffed when the fires of 1910 broke out. At one point, there was only 1 man for every fire. The main character is torn between his duty to the men he leads and his family. The story is bittersweet. The love between him and his wife is beautiful, but the injuries they both endured are horrific.

Because they are short stories, these are more slice-of-life type stories. And though we only spend about an hour with the characters, there are enough details to provide an emotional connection to them. I felt the longing between Lucy and William in the Civil War epistolary story, Our Day of Grace.

I've not read anything else from Jim Shephard, nor do I know anything about his writing. Checking his Goodreads listing, I see there are several full-length novels in addition to other short works. I might have to check them out as I enjoyed his writing style.

Buy The Queen of Bad Influences: Stories at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour. 

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