Aug Stone is a former standup comedian with a quirky sense of humor. He's also a shameless punster. In his new story collection, "Sporting Moustaches," readers will encounter a variety of hirsute tales that range from amusing to downright cringeworthy. Most of these stories involve sports; basketball, football, baseball, etc. There's one about a guy who wraps his moustache around his hockey stick and this makes him a better player somehow. There's a badminton player who has birds living inside his beard that fly out at crucial moments during matches and prove distracting to his opponents. There's a figure skater who is obsessed with the letter "V."
Stone explained this story was a tribute to his favorite novelist, Thomas Pynchon. The author litters his pages with literary allusions, pop culture contusions, and punishing punnish extrusions. It is all rather strange and is primarily a series of odd rabbit holes. I laughed at some and in others I just hurried along to get to the next story. That's one beauty of story collections like this one, if a story isn't working for readers then they can flip a few pages to get to the next one.
The Book Nook on WYSO is presented by the Greene County Public Library with additional support from Washington-Centerville Public Library, Clark County Public Library, Dayton Metro Library, Wright Memorial Public Library, and Tipp City Public.
