Sometimes the Sun Does Shine There is a collection of five short stories, depressing and dead-pan funny all at the same time.
The first features Larry, one of those guys who just can’t seem to get a break. Struggling from day-to-day to make a living and to be liked, he is luckless when it comes to staying out of Vic’s way, a notorious bully and gamester. Vic could be the devil’s worst enemy, stopping at nothing to get what he wants and to demean others. When the money gods bless Larry with a winning lottery ticket, he decides to get even. But his plan backfires and Larry finds himself in an even worse situation than before. But the end of the story is hopeful, and not only is Larry’s dignity ultimately restored, but he gets the girl and a life literally worth millions.
Morty and Chris are scientific partners in Who Took My Pentachoron, always on the verge of a major discovery and always broke. Chris has become weary of being the brunt of jokes and a burden as a husband. After several years of struggling to make a breakthrough, they create an instrument, the Pentachoron, designed to make it possible to go back in time. When a series of mishaps causes Morty to end up dead, Chris becomes the fall guy, thus proving all along that he is the loser that everyone thought him to be.
Bad luck is the running theme for many of the characters in Schultz’s stories, but his writing is dead-pan funny, infused with tinges of humanity sure to leave any reader anxious to read more.
Reviewed by Ivy Pittman for IndieReader