Coleman Dowell's short stories, as is much of his work, are difficult to contextualize, shatter prior conceptions of what fiction should encompass, and break away from previous fictive forms. Some of the stories include a rich, crafted Gothicism, others a compelling surrealism, and still others an expertly timed lyricism. Dowell's characters are multidimensional, sometimes moving through the stories at metafictional levels. They are always reacting to the alienation of self, attempting to understand flawed beauty, and desperately striving to focus on the numerous splintered fragments of their fractured lives.

Throughout Dowell's writing career, three journals published most of his short fiction, now collected in The Houses of Children (1987). This collection draws together stories from New Directions: An International Anthology of Prose and Poetry, Ambit, and Conjunctions. Dowell's stories also appeared occasionally in Harper's Magazine, Kentucky Renaissance, ADENA, and the Review of Contemporary Fiction . The Houses of Children is...