{"id":30666,"date":"2025-05-17T09:58:29","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T15:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/?p=30666"},"modified":"2025-05-17T09:58:29","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T15:58:29","slug":"the-glass-gift-and-other-stories-by-lloyd-lim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/?p=30666","title":{"rendered":"The Glass Gift and Other Stories by Lloyd Lim"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A rich, emotionally intelligent collection.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lim probes the fragile boundaries of memory, morality, and connection in his compelling collection. In the title story, a treasured wedding gift triggers a painful recognition: that love, however sincere, cannot save someone from themselves. In \u201cThe June Bugs,\u201d two old friends sit in summer twilight after a funeral, talking past regrets and longings. \u201cThe Bed Wetter\u201d uses a model airplane to awaken buried childhood shame and betrayal.\u00a0In \u201cStanding Outside,\u201d a father grieves a child, while a mystical Egyptian artifact offers a surreal kind of solace. In \u201cThe Execution Channel,\u201d society watches televised executions like reality TV. In \u201cWakey-Wakey,\u201d a speculative near-future probes the ethics of sleep and control. \u201cThe Philanthropist,\u201d set on another planet, imagines rebellion through a child\u2019s gift of dreams. \u201cStolen\u201d and \u201cBetter Late Than Never\u201d explore chance meetings that echo with what\u2019s lost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The poem &#8220;The Stinger&#8221; examines how revenge and reinvention often blur. In &#8220;The Drop-out,&#8221; a dropout reflects on paths not taken.\u00a0Lim\u2019s characters often stand at quiet crossroads, caught between memory and forgetting, or between what they hoped for and what remains. And Lim captures these moments with a light touch, a dry wit, and a poet\u2019s restraint. These are stories of private reckonings and public failures, of everyday moments cracked open by grief, guilt, or quiet joy. If some stories privilege theme over character, they nonetheless expand the book\u2019s reach. As a whole, this is a thoughtful, elegant meditation on the cost of connection and the small, fragile ways we try to mend what\u2019s broken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A quietly dazzling collection that moves between loss, memory, and quiet revelation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Glass-Gift-Other-Stories\/dp\/1977280196\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Glass-Gift-Other-Stories\/dp\/1977280196\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Buy now<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Pub date February 21, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Outskirts Press<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">ISBN 978-1977280190<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Price $17.95 (USD) Paperback, $9.99 Kindle edition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A rich, emotionally intelligent collection. Lim probes the fragile boundaries of memory, morality, and connection in his compelling collection. In the title story, a treasured wedding gift triggers a painful recognition: that love, however sincere, cannot save someone from themselves. In \u201cThe June Bugs,\u201d two old friends sit in summer twilight after a funeral, talking past regrets and longings. \u201cThe Bed Wetter\u201d uses a model airplane to awaken buried childhood shame and betrayal.\u00a0In \u201cStanding Outside,\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145610851,"featured_media":30670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[955],"tags":[7223,91,3328,178,1747,1136176,91586,723770865,1473,1008073,856121,309,546,40287,723770866,349],"class_list":["post-30666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-author","tag-blogging","tag-book-reviews","tag-books","tag-fiction","tag-indie-books","tag-literary-fiction","tag-lloyd-lim","tag-reading","tag-review-blog","tag-review-website","tag-reviews","tag-short-stories","tag-short-story","tag-the-glass-gift-and-other-stories","tag-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pajKJn-7YC","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/61yxkWgF9hL._SY522_.jpg?fit=298%2C522&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/145610851"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30666"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30671,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30666\/revisions\/30671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}