We fear the unknown and nothing of the unknown is more fearful than Death. It is enshrined in the literary, the movies, music, and paintings because art is about emotions. So why do we forget that Death is nothing without Life and the tapestry we weave within our lives and those we touch is much more colorful than the end game? John Sims Jeter’s The End of a Perfect Death showcases that color in these death-with-life-themed short stories, ten tales of the strange and wonderful. Yes, he talks about or alludes to death whether animate or inanimate (and as John shows, a slurpee lid has a life too), but it’s the in-between that makes these Twilight Zone-like and musical stories so rich and vivid whether funny or sad, absurd or realistic. Please join John in his search for the meaning in life through his journey in The End of a Perfect Death.
JOHN SIMS JETER'S delightful and thought-provoking short story collection, The End of a Perfect Death, holds up a magic mirror to reflect lives spent as musicians and merchants, doctors and preachers, even as assassins and as the lid of a soft drink! Any life is just around the corner from death: a proposition that causes the reader to rejoice and to mourn, to hope and to fear, to laugh and to cry, but above all to live as fully as we can. Highly original, surprising, and insightful, these short stories bring us closer to our essential selves and to our families and friends.
Sena Jeter Nashlund, author of Ahab’s Wife, Four Spirits, Abundance, and The Disobedience of Water: Stories and Novella
THIS COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES is packed with life in its many dimensions. They remind us that…no matter our station in life the reality of ‘dust to dust’ is certain….John Sims Jeter’s stories are…well-written, magical, and endearing. I recommend this collection of stories to you, the reader.
Chervis Isom, author of The Newspaper Boy: Coming of Age in Birmingham, Alabama During the Civil Rights Era and several short stories appearing in the Louisville Review and the Birmingham Arts Journal.
DEATH IS NOT FOR SISSIES, but John Sims Jeter boldly takes hold of that scythe-wielding character and turns him upside down. Do not read this collection from Jeter’s creative imaginings unless you are prepared to be engaged, entertained, tantalized, surprised, amused and thought-provoked, Southern style.
T. K. Thorne, author of the award-winning Angels at the Gate
JOHN SIMS JETER was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. He worked as a mathematician and Professional Structural Engineer before retiring in 2005. His short story, The Man Who Took Notes, was published in the Spring & Fall 2004 Number 55-56 of The Louisville Review and was nominated for 2005 Pushcart Prize XXIX. A second short story, My Life as a Lid, appeared in 2006 Palm Prints, a literary journal of the University of South Florida. His novel, ...and the angels sang, was published in 2007 by Livingston Press at the University of West Alabama. John served as a volunteer on the Radio Reading Service for the Blind over WUSF-FM and WLRH-FM for over twenty-five years. In addition to reading and writing, John enjoys choral singing, the blues, and classical music. He has served as Vice President in 2014-2015 of the Executive Board of the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library Friends of the Library. John is a member of Alabama Writers Conclave, Sundial Writers, Huntsville Literary Association, and the Alabama Writers' Forum. He and his wife, Derelene, live in Huntsville, Alabama.
