- Olivia Brooks
- Jul 31
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 1
When Fantasy & Reality Collide: A Review of Garrett Caples’ Proses: Incomparable Parables! Fabulous Fables! Cruel Tales!
by Olivia Brooks
In his recent book, poet and editor Garrett Caples challenges notions of creative conventions within nine powerful short fiction pieces. Published in 2024 by Wave Books, Caples presents Proses, a book with otherworldly ideas and concepts towards humanity, mixed with reality and fantastical notions about what it truly means to live in the modern day. With a background of poetry, mixed with experience editing for City Lights Books and as a past contributing editor and writer for other publications, Caples’ multigenre complexities serve to a higher standard in this collection, as well as the higher standard his talent has naturally set on him as a person.
With a distinct tone of humor mixed with sincerity on pressing matters, to the abstract choices of writing in each short piece, all help to promote Caples’ credibility as an editor mixed with creative experience as a poet... and especially nail the prose. The way Caples starts his stories with unique openings almost casts a spell on the reader, luring them in and holding on with intricate details. At the start of “Hector Nice”, Caples sets the scene with the line “His name was Hector Nice—pronounced like the city—which was funny both because he was nice in an unctuous, mannered way, and because he was anything but, due to a combination of limited ability and limitless ambition that manifested itself in ruthless devotion to his career.” The tone feels conversational with underlying bits of humor and remarks on modern, relevant standpoints, but dialed in to strong messages and thought-provoking meanings that are up to the reader’s interpretation.
Each piece can be read as a standalone, but there are cameos and familiar themes woven throughout making the experience the most elusive if read sequentially. A personal favorite of the short fiction excerpts is “Vyvyan Sourman”. This story comes in the back half of the book and represents a lot of context in Caples’ life while also pulling in humor. Just to name a few aspects of the piece, the main character works at a bookstore, their boss had lunch with Patti Smith; he makes references to publishing and speaks to the reader as well, which rounds back to that notion of a conversational tone which also adds a bit of humorous informality to whatever the situation is in the story. The way Caples is able to depict a scene given real life experiences and creative freedom of prose is authentic and fresh.
The most intriguing factor of this book is the style of writing. The title, Proses: Incomparable Parables! Fabulous Fables! Cruel Tales!, serves a larger purpose than the reader may realize. A short story is prose, but the way this poet displays the word prose almost seems as if it is an onomatopoeia. The incomparable parables, fabulous fables, and cruel tales all jump out to the reader in a booming font on the cover page to pull them in without any pictures, but just the simple shout of the bolded words with no context. And yes, Garrett Caples does serve the prose. Already, his style is unique and tasteful, but once one understands the context that he is a poet and edits such work a majority of the time, these stories illuminate even more of an abstract, prose-filled dynamic.
Garrett Caples’ book is called upon by reviewers and publishers as a phantasmagorical piece. This word is not a literary genre, but rather an adjective that helps create movement to the piece and what it can be described as in the midst of other anthologies and modern texts. Phantasmagorical works to describe strangeness, fantastical factors, and surreal ideas. All of the short fiction in this book ground settings and context into reality but bring about scenarios that string on something strange, otherworldly, or surreal. While this is not to be confused with the rapidly emerging science fiction subgenre dubbed as the new weird, phantasmagorical work, especially in Caples’ case, seems to have more elasticity in where it draws elements of inspiration from.
Proses! At times made me think of novels such as Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and the philosophical fiction genre here. By this, meaning the way the stories are answering or simply addressing philosophical views of poetry, fiction, fables, and tales. Caples steers away from the practical cryptic views of what fiction should be, and brings about the magic of what fiction can be. Even the wording of his prose is intrinsic to his experience and reliance on unique undertones rather than trendy atmospheres of what’s to be expected of short fiction collections:
“Not long after 7 I saw a dark form emerge from a path behind some trees and trudge in my direction… I saw his eyes widen in horror as he took in my words and with an astonishing alacrity for one so lumbering, and an admirable lack of hesitation at the decisive moment for action, he dove headlong after the fluttering pages and even managed to catch one as he splattered against the fetid muck offshore with a sound like a mallet hitting a wall of fudge” (Caples, 50-51).
This alone illuminates the style of this author and how a mix of stream of consciousness methods of the narrator, alongside word choices that incorporate metaphorical terms and other uncommon vocabulary, build upon and layer together to create this phantasmagorical work.
From the strange and intricate illustrations to the futuristic science fiction that come about from even the first short piece about the poet, Proses! Is an insightful book that seems to knock on modern society, specifically generation z, while also presenting new ways of thinking towards writing short fiction and just how strangely unique one can make a collection.
OLIVIA BROOKS is a master's student in Florida State University’s English department. Studying Rhetoric & Composition, Brooks has an infatuation with all things words, writing, and reading. From positions as an editor and editorial assistant at multiple literary magazines and editorial service companies, to her own interest in creative and academic writing, Olivia is always looking for new ideas and concepts to discuss and write about. She was born and raised in Florida, grew up learning to love to travel, and is always trying new hobbies and interests.
GARRETT CAPLES is an author, poet, and editor of many works of fiction. Stretching from years in school that led his accomplishments of a PhD in English, all the way to publications and collections over the past two decades that he has contributed to, Caples has a unique way with words and the writing industry. Currently living in California, Garrett Caples is an editor for City Light Books. Always reading something new, his inspiration floods from his work and personal life and gives light to any and every reader.