On February 6th, Calhoun’s very own English instructor and author of “Those Fantastic Lives,”
Bradley Sides released a new book, “Crocodile Tears Didn’t Cause the Flood”. This new book,
along with his last one is a short story collection in the realm of magical realism. An event was
held at Calhoun’s Huntsville Campus where Sides did a reading from one of the stories in the
collection and discussed different themes and inspirations for the book as a whole and specific
stories. There was also a brief Q&A section where the audience of the event was able to ask
questions.
I later sat down with the Sides to discuss this on a deeper level. Here are the questions we
discussed.
What is your favorite story from the collection and why?
Sides: “To be honest, it changes. One, though, that I most consistently think of as my favorite is
“The Guide to King George.” To me, it hits the big themes of the larger book, and it is, in many
ways, a story that does what I hope my stories do. It’s a little tender. A little magical. A little sad.
And I just really like monster stories.”
How did you go about developing the central themes of stories and crafting the overall themes of
the whole collection?
Sides: “The period in which they were written definitely inspired the themes. I wrote most of
these stories from 2020-2021. Those couple of years were some difficult, loss-filled times.”
Could you describe your process for developing a single story, and how does the creative
process find its uniqueness?
Sides: “I don’t outline on paper most of the time. Instead, I spend time in my head thinking how a
story might develop. Once the idea is (at least partially) developed, I turn to writing. I get a draft
out pretty quickly, with frequent revising to that draft. From there, I keep writing it—and writing
it again, again, again, and again. When it ends properly, I usually feel that I’ve found the full
story as it should be. As for the uniqueness of my stories, I think we all have pretty distinct
voices in our work. For me, my voice likes to be accompanied by some weirdness and magic.”
What are some things you think you improved upon with this short story collection compared to
your first?
Sides: “I love reflection questions. I think this collection is tighter. I also think the stories,
maybe, have a bit more layers. I’m all about layers in short stories. As a reader, it’s fun to read
these kinds of stories. At least it is for me.”
How would you say your stories and book fit within the space of magical realism?
“A lot of early readers picked up on the southern flavor to the book and how it merges with
magical realism/speculative/weird fiction. If I get labeled as a Southern magical realist, that
works with me. I’m just happy to be a part of the conversation.”
After our conversation and reading the book, I can say that for anyone looking for a book that
sucks you into magical stories that remind you of whimsical dreams and true fantastical tales,
Bradley Sides “Crocodile Tears Didn’t Cause the Flood” is definitely one I would
check out.