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Automatically Hip
Like Jazz, any attempt to arrive at a precise, all-encompassing definition of the stories in Automatically Hip is probably futile. However, within these artfully-crafted, often-irreverent, and darkly humorous pieces are characters who share one consistent trait: you'll recognize them. These are folks who face struggle with a smile, and fortune with a frown. They are complicated and shallow, reactive and reflective, joyful and joyless. In short, they are human.
- GenresShort Stories
98 pages, Paperback
Published July 5, 2022
17 people want to read
About the author
John A. McCaffrey
6Ìýbooks40ÌýfollowersJohn McCaffrey is the author of The Book of Ash, Two Syllable Men, What's Wrong With This Picture?, and Automatically Hip. He is a writing professor and a columnist for The Good Men Project.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 6, 2022
Seriously Jazzy â€� At first, the tales in John McCaffrey’s collection Automatically Hip appear easy, effortless, even flip. Then he drops an insight that makes you realize, “This story is more substantial than it seems!â€� Like being hip, there’s nothing automatic about good writing. It takes work and McCaffrey has done his. I say this as both a reader and a fellow fiction writer (see my Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ author page /author/show...). While the protagonists in these stories are not hip, neither are they losers or geeks. Just run-of-the-mill guys who wish they could be cooler. And yet, every now and then, something extraordinary happens to them. Just like those magical moments that can strike all us ordinary mortals if, like McCaffrey, we’re open enough to let them. Each piece is finely crafted, designed not only to entertain but also to enlighten us about human desires, foibles, and quirks. The result is seriously satisfying.
July 17, 2022
John McCaffrey’s new book, Automatically Hip, starts with a riff on jazz a page and a half long. It is the perfect introduction to this delightful mix of vignettes. McCaffrey has the gift, through tight use of language, to make us care about his characters, whether a cop regretting an arrest, to a man who cuts grooves in pavements for a living. His characters, whether men or women, draw the reader deep into their psyche - we wonder at the strangeness of Sylvia’s request of complete silence if she agrees to a date in Life After Death; we feel Jason’s loneliness in Untuckit 35. We are drawn in and empathize with their fallibility, their uncertainty of their standing, to the extent we want to know what happens to them long after story is over. Isn’t that the lure of a short-story teller? To leave his readers wanting more.
May 11, 2022
I really loved four of the stories in this intriguing collection. The first (and eponymous) story was appealing and well-written, and allowing the reader into the minds of each character was a slick idea. Loved it. I also loved “Spin� about two mothers who conspire to get their respective kids together, the word “spin� defining the class at the gym where the kids meet, but also a turnaround in their situations that in fact does put them into a relationship. Then there were the very sweet “Grooved Pavement� and “Gravity,� the former about a touching relationship that springs up between a young man who takes on a job marking roads for paving purposes and learns the ropes from an older man who is very experienced at the job, and the latter about a significant moment between a woman who triumphs after accepting the offer of a stranger to coach her on how to do a chin-up and savors the feeling. Some of these stories were very short while the others were a bit longer, but they were all very effective.
I felt that the rest of the stories in the collection needed a little more work to achieve the punch and richness of the four I mentioned, but I would definitely recommend the book and would certainly read more of McCaffrey’s work.
I felt that the rest of the stories in the collection needed a little more work to achieve the punch and richness of the four I mentioned, but I would definitely recommend the book and would certainly read more of McCaffrey’s work.
July 2, 2022
Automatically Hip is a short story collection with a decent enough range of stories. Quite a few tales are short and sweet enough to be labeled possibly as flash fiction.
As is typically the case with such collections, I loved a few stories, while others were not that impressive. I found some of the ones at the end of particular interest and more memorable than those in the beginning.
What’s truly lovely about the stories is that they capture human nature in its most subtle form. Whether it’s our anxieties, loneliness, joys, hope, or fear, the author weaves these emotions casually into the stories that are eccentric and original. The book gets solid 3.5 stars, rounded off to 4, from me.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily
As is typically the case with such collections, I loved a few stories, while others were not that impressive. I found some of the ones at the end of particular interest and more memorable than those in the beginning.
What’s truly lovely about the stories is that they capture human nature in its most subtle form. Whether it’s our anxieties, loneliness, joys, hope, or fear, the author weaves these emotions casually into the stories that are eccentric and original. The book gets solid 3.5 stars, rounded off to 4, from me.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily
January 10, 2023
"The stories in Automatically Hip, John McCaffrey's latest collection, are funny, irreverent and imbued with creative soul." Scott Hamilton-Kennedy, Academy Award(R) nominee
"Automatically Hip begins with a story of Thelonious Monk and then applies the jazz legend's improvisational technique to prose. McCaffrey's vignettes are jazzy riffs on the quieter moments of human connection. They are musical, surprising, and a pleasure." Iris Smyles, Author of Dating Tips for the Unemployed
"If you haven't read one of John McCaffrey's stories, you're in for a treat. John consistently looks at things carefully and originally. He describes them thoughtfully, and never ceases to surprise his reader with unexpected, yet earned outcomes. His attention to language, fine dialogue, and high-level character development is dependably excellent and simply a pleasure. Take a look at the first story, and title of the book, Automatically Hip. I'm sure you'll eagerly want to read all of John's refreshing, always enjoyable work." Burt Weissbourd, Author of Danger in Plain Sight
"John McCaffrey's Automatically Hip is an amazing, compact, powerful and insightful plunge into the collective loneliness, and the disjointed togetherness, of our tattered country. His fourteen brief but breathtaking stories reassure us that there are people still out there searching for something-and in today's chaotic, fractured world, the search is all that matters. McCaffrey is truly an old-school storyteller in a post-modern world, who captures the unsteadiness of our age with great humor and compassion. Pick up this book, dear reader, and brace yourself-these stories come fast, and each one packs a sweet little punch." Frank Haberle, Author of Shufflers
"McCaffrey has deviated from the idiosyncratic to gift us with vignettes of brief, human warmness. The multitude of voices in Automatically Hip speak to us in one magnificent language; empathy and compassion." Erik Raschke, Author of The Book of Samuel
“If you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know�, famously said Louis Armstrong once, implying that jazz was self-defining, a world apart, to which you either connected or didn’t, a universe that could be accepted and understood only on its own terms and on no other.
“Automatically Hip�, the title story of John McCaffrey’s latest book of stories, opens like a jazz combo musing differently yet cooperatively on the same theme, three points of view combining to define a single event, the arrest of Thelonious Monk for drug possession.
The stories that follow “Automatically Hip�, echo the self-defining universe of jazz, populated as they are by characters who walk on a razor’s edge between the comic and the sad, like the woman who refuses to talk on a date (Life after Death) or a lonely man unable to join in a community social (Untuckit 35).
John McCaffrey exhibits a special skill in bringing to life these off-beat characters who, in one way or another, to a greater or lesser degree, present a mirror-image of each of us and the separate universes that we all sometimes inhabit." Martin Keefe, author, Taking the Measure
"Automatically Hip begins with a story of Thelonious Monk and then applies the jazz legend's improvisational technique to prose. McCaffrey's vignettes are jazzy riffs on the quieter moments of human connection. They are musical, surprising, and a pleasure." Iris Smyles, Author of Dating Tips for the Unemployed
"If you haven't read one of John McCaffrey's stories, you're in for a treat. John consistently looks at things carefully and originally. He describes them thoughtfully, and never ceases to surprise his reader with unexpected, yet earned outcomes. His attention to language, fine dialogue, and high-level character development is dependably excellent and simply a pleasure. Take a look at the first story, and title of the book, Automatically Hip. I'm sure you'll eagerly want to read all of John's refreshing, always enjoyable work." Burt Weissbourd, Author of Danger in Plain Sight
"John McCaffrey's Automatically Hip is an amazing, compact, powerful and insightful plunge into the collective loneliness, and the disjointed togetherness, of our tattered country. His fourteen brief but breathtaking stories reassure us that there are people still out there searching for something-and in today's chaotic, fractured world, the search is all that matters. McCaffrey is truly an old-school storyteller in a post-modern world, who captures the unsteadiness of our age with great humor and compassion. Pick up this book, dear reader, and brace yourself-these stories come fast, and each one packs a sweet little punch." Frank Haberle, Author of Shufflers
"McCaffrey has deviated from the idiosyncratic to gift us with vignettes of brief, human warmness. The multitude of voices in Automatically Hip speak to us in one magnificent language; empathy and compassion." Erik Raschke, Author of The Book of Samuel
“If you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know�, famously said Louis Armstrong once, implying that jazz was self-defining, a world apart, to which you either connected or didn’t, a universe that could be accepted and understood only on its own terms and on no other.
“Automatically Hip�, the title story of John McCaffrey’s latest book of stories, opens like a jazz combo musing differently yet cooperatively on the same theme, three points of view combining to define a single event, the arrest of Thelonious Monk for drug possession.
The stories that follow “Automatically Hip�, echo the self-defining universe of jazz, populated as they are by characters who walk on a razor’s edge between the comic and the sad, like the woman who refuses to talk on a date (Life after Death) or a lonely man unable to join in a community social (Untuckit 35).
John McCaffrey exhibits a special skill in bringing to life these off-beat characters who, in one way or another, to a greater or lesser degree, present a mirror-image of each of us and the separate universes that we all sometimes inhabit." Martin Keefe, author, Taking the Measure
June 2, 2022
Quick, easy read filled with short stories. Most stories are only a few pages long so I didn't have time to really get invested in the story or characters. I think I would have liked these to have been a little longer. Most are slice of life or quirky stories. Automatically Hip was by far the best story. Thanks to Book Sirens for a chance to read this.
July 13, 2022
This fabulous collection of short stories spotlights the brilliant, life-changing moments we all experience, despite our otherwise common lives.
While all of the stories are worth reading, the book opens with what remains my favorite. Imagined moments from multiple viewpoints postulate about the true life ousting of jazz pianist Thelonious Monk from New York’s club scene after he was arrested for heroine that wasn’t his. The writing captures the feel of jazz itself, as is evident from this opening:
“If you play jazz with cats, whether they’re finger zingers or rusty gates, no matter if they have balloon lungs or freak lips, if the rhythm is gut bucket or smoking, you’re bound to throw out a clunker or have one passed your way now and again.�
Marvelous!
And as a woman, I especially loved the male characters. Rather than write about he-men out to prove something, McCaffrey’s men struggle with the seismic emotions we all feel, but are often forced to deal with in quiet, solitary ways due to cultural mores that depict men as needing to be strong an invulnerable. Such is the case of three workmen who wait for an ambulance to arrive after a foreman falls headfirst in stack of metal piping. The same is true for a young college graduate who accepts a boring blue-collar job for the summer, yet connects with a working class guy who achieves the kind of focus and happiness the young man craves in his later years.
I loved the compact nature of the stories. In only a few pages, the author conveys the characters� conflict, actions and resulting epiphanies. The top-notch descriptions immediately spark scenes to life.
While all of the stories are worth reading, the book opens with what remains my favorite. Imagined moments from multiple viewpoints postulate about the true life ousting of jazz pianist Thelonious Monk from New York’s club scene after he was arrested for heroine that wasn’t his. The writing captures the feel of jazz itself, as is evident from this opening:
“If you play jazz with cats, whether they’re finger zingers or rusty gates, no matter if they have balloon lungs or freak lips, if the rhythm is gut bucket or smoking, you’re bound to throw out a clunker or have one passed your way now and again.�
Marvelous!
And as a woman, I especially loved the male characters. Rather than write about he-men out to prove something, McCaffrey’s men struggle with the seismic emotions we all feel, but are often forced to deal with in quiet, solitary ways due to cultural mores that depict men as needing to be strong an invulnerable. Such is the case of three workmen who wait for an ambulance to arrive after a foreman falls headfirst in stack of metal piping. The same is true for a young college graduate who accepts a boring blue-collar job for the summer, yet connects with a working class guy who achieves the kind of focus and happiness the young man craves in his later years.
I loved the compact nature of the stories. In only a few pages, the author conveys the characters� conflict, actions and resulting epiphanies. The top-notch descriptions immediately spark scenes to life.
July 23, 2022
Automatically Hip is an entertaining collection of stories that masterfully combines wit with the seriousness and confusion of everyday life. The writing is beautiful, with crisp dialogue and vivid imagery. There’s a satisfying variety of flash-length and medium-length stories as well.
My favorites are “Untuckit 35,� “Schmear Campaign,� and “Spin,� although it was tough to pick because all of these stories were insightful and well-written.
These character-driven stories feature protagonists who are meaningful and seek human connection in ways both bumbling and stirring that make a reader identify and also reflect.
From the “literary man� in “Imaginary Friend,� and the husband whose wife wants him to start therapy in “Good Morning,� and Virginia, the recent divorcee at the gym in “Gravity,� to the “perfect� coworker in “Schmear Campaign�, and Jason, the single guy who goes to a community “Saturday Night Social� only to get a new name (hilarious!) and to make a friend he hadn’t anticipated in “Untuckit 35,� these stories offer both surprises and resonance for the reader. Recommended!
My favorites are “Untuckit 35,� “Schmear Campaign,� and “Spin,� although it was tough to pick because all of these stories were insightful and well-written.
These character-driven stories feature protagonists who are meaningful and seek human connection in ways both bumbling and stirring that make a reader identify and also reflect.
From the “literary man� in “Imaginary Friend,� and the husband whose wife wants him to start therapy in “Good Morning,� and Virginia, the recent divorcee at the gym in “Gravity,� to the “perfect� coworker in “Schmear Campaign�, and Jason, the single guy who goes to a community “Saturday Night Social� only to get a new name (hilarious!) and to make a friend he hadn’t anticipated in “Untuckit 35,� these stories offer both surprises and resonance for the reader. Recommended!
July 11, 2022
The title story in John McCaffrey’s latest book of short stories, Automatically Hip, sets the tone for a collection that is just that—automatically hip. We meet jazz greats, factory workers, even men who see whales in the Hudson River. And we’d like to grab a beer with each of them, to sit down and discuss just what it is we’re all looking for. That’s the world McCaffrey creates in each of these tight pieces—each narrative long enough to create a world we can imagine ourselves inhabiting. And were left wondering about the characters and their choices for days to come. We want them to show up at work with us, maybe invite us home. That’s the thing, you’ll want to go on knowing John McCaffrey’s characters. They feel real, they are real, maybe they’re even your neighbors. You’ll probably try friending them on Facebook, and your life will be better for it.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
August 16, 2022
Crafted well and brisk, Automatically Hip is a short story collection that seems to go through all the major beats of realist fiction. I like how the overall tone is unified in its humanity, even if the time eras and focal voices vary. Sometimes the brevity worked in a story's favor, other times not.
My measly nitpick: many of the protagonists feel like they fall in a similar identity and socioeconomical perspective. Late twenties to mid thirties Caucasian, low to middle income, often heterosexual and single. And nothing too radical on a supernatural or paranormal front. In some ways, the protagonists feel somewhat flat to me.
Yet the themes of vulnerability and sorrow were welcome topics to discuss. Loneliness and feeling like an outcast. Numerous insecurities. Certain impressions did not land with the snap I associate with the blues or jazz, but that's okay. Short stories that make me double-take now and then at the ending lines are worthwhile.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
My measly nitpick: many of the protagonists feel like they fall in a similar identity and socioeconomical perspective. Late twenties to mid thirties Caucasian, low to middle income, often heterosexual and single. And nothing too radical on a supernatural or paranormal front. In some ways, the protagonists feel somewhat flat to me.
Yet the themes of vulnerability and sorrow were welcome topics to discuss. Loneliness and feeling like an outcast. Numerous insecurities. Certain impressions did not land with the snap I associate with the blues or jazz, but that's okay. Short stories that make me double-take now and then at the ending lines are worthwhile.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
June 29, 2022
Thank you BookSirens for the Advanced Readers Copy!
Automatically Hip is a collection of short stories that are humorous, heartfelt, and candid. It’s difficult creating a connection to characters in short narratives, and while some stories were far too brief to create meaning for me, I rather enjoyed the longer ones. My favorites were Grooved Pavement and Untuckit 35. Overall, these were pleasant short stories and an easy read.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Automatically Hip is a collection of short stories that are humorous, heartfelt, and candid. It’s difficult creating a connection to characters in short narratives, and while some stories were far too brief to create meaning for me, I rather enjoyed the longer ones. My favorites were Grooved Pavement and Untuckit 35. Overall, these were pleasant short stories and an easy read.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
June 20, 2022
Short stories that display a huge range of human emotions we as individuals display. Very quick read that I enjoyed and would recommend.
I received an advance review copy for free from booksirens.com, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received an advance review copy for free from booksirens.com, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
July 19, 2022
Thanks to Booksirens for letting me read this book.
It is a good collection of short stories. Some, I was glad were short and others I was hoping for more. I would recommend this if you enjoy short stories.
It is a good collection of short stories. Some, I was glad were short and others I was hoping for more. I would recommend this if you enjoy short stories.
May 19, 2022
I received a ARC free from Book Sirens and this is my voluntary honest review.
Interesting! Very descriptive writing! Well written! Flows well! Holds your attention!
Interesting cover! Funny!Creative!
Interesting! Very descriptive writing! Well written! Flows well! Holds your attention!
Interesting cover! Funny!Creative!
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